Look who's getting ready for Dyslexia Awareness month   We at are very excited to be a part of the #GoRedForDyslexia campaign, promoting a greater understanding of Dyslexia during October, Dyslexia Awareness Month. #GoRedForDyslexia #SucceedWithDyslexia #DyslexiaAwareness    

  Learning to touch type can sometimes be considered a bit of a chore but the launch of KAZ’s very first touch typing tournament earlier this year created a whirl of excitement amongst schools across the world. Not only did it encourage pupils to learn the skill but it also brought out their competitive spirit. After fluctuations in leadership over the school term, we are delighted to announce that Mew Hansiriphan of Shrewsbury School has been crowned champion, with a score of 65 WPM and 89% accuracy.        Shrewsbury School is one of the UK’s leading co-educational day and boarding schools for pupils aged 13-18. Founded in 1552 by the Royal Charter of King Edward VI, Shrewsbury was identified as one of the ‘Great’ public schools by the Clarendon Commission 1868. “Although the school is steeped in history and heritage, we always look to innovate and evolve the pupil experience,” says Headmaster, Leo Winkley. “Our distinctive model of whole-person education offers deep learning in a challenging yet kind environment. Academic excellence is achieved through a wide-ranging curriculum that uncovers and encourages a genuine love of learning, alongside inspirational teaching that challenges each pupil to strive for her or his own personal best. We believe that school should be ‘serious fun’: because learning and enjoyment go hand in hand. Learning takes place not only in the classroom but also through a vibrant and demanding co-curricular programme and in the pastoral and communal life of the School. Touch-typing is one of the activities on offer to all pupils at Shrewsbury as part of the school’s co-curricular Societies programme. It is very popular among pupils and is championed enthusiastically by teacher Karen Mitchell, Head of Learning Support.” “Touch-typing is a valuable life-skill that not only supports pupils’ academic studies at school but also their future career paths.    As your typing skills improve, you save time, you can focus on the text on the monitor rather than on the keypad, and it improves your accuracy. Learning to touch-type properly also has health benefits, as it ensures you sit correctly at your computer, which is good for your spine, increases your productivity and unleashes the potential of your brain.   Our pupils very much enjoyed the challenge of taking part in the KAZ Worldwide Touch-Typing Tournament and we were thrilled to be told that the competition had been won by one of our Fifth Formers (Year 10s), Mew Hansiriphan. Mew worked extremely hard at improving his typing speed and accuracy and he is to be warmly congratulated for his achievement.”   “Mew is a top academic student, excelling in many of his subjects, but especially in Science and Maths,” says his Housemaster, Henry Exham. “He is also a keen rower, representing the school at a high level, and is a highly motivated student who gets the most out of everything he does. He has a great attitude and work ethic – as his fantastic success in the KAZ Touch-Typing Tournament clearly demonstrates.”   Congratulations! The KAZ team would like to congratulate Shrewsbury School and in particular Mew on his fantastic achievement in this, our maiden touch typing tournament. Very well done! We hope you enjoy showing off your champion’s’ trophy. Additionally, congratulations on winning your complimentary ‘City & Guilds’ and annual school licence.  We would also like to thank all the schools who took part. A very special mention to ESMS schools in Edinburgh, whose students took 2nd and 3rd place respectively.  Lastly, thank you to all students who competed. We really hope your typing skills help you through education and in your future careers.   Remember, the difference between 40WPM and 100+WPM is just practice!  

Click the below link to visit the Getting AT Ready Online 2020 event page where you will find details of all Getting AT Ready webinars.                                                                                https://www.atready.co.uk/getting-at-ready-2020/event/ The event is now open to everyone so please do feel free to share this with your colleagues.   Getting AT Ready 2020 Online from 11th June 2020 Established in Scotland 5 years ago, Getting AT Ready brings together Assistive Technology specialists, disability professionals and manufacturers to discuss best practice and build strategies to support students in Further and Higher education. Flashback to a month ago and we were busy preparing the Save the Date email for Getting AT Ready 2020. We were particularly excited to be bringing the event to Ireland for the first time… but it wasn’t meant to be. We’ve all had to adapt in the last few weeks and this includes Getting AT Ready. However, we’re delighted to announce that this has provided us with the opportunity to combine our Ireland and Scotland events into one fantastic lineup of online content including an innovative partnership with FindMyFlow. Register – Event Programme – Exhibitors Getting AT Ready Online 2020 Login To access the Getting AT Ready event, please enter the email address you registered with. This will be active from 9am on the day of the event.   Event Programme 2020 Details of the Getting AT Ready 2020 Online event are below. You need to register for the event here in order to access the content. Full instructions on how to attend the event will be sent to those people that register. Welcome Keynote – Digital Passports Keynote – The Future of Assistive Technology Panel discussion – Intercountry Collaboration Workshops Time to complete Getting AT Ready Flow Closing statement  

  Call Scotland ASL & Technology conference 2020   We help children and young people across Scotland  to overcome disability and barriers to learning.   We've been around since 1983 working as a Research and Development centre as well as a working Service unit. Both elements are necessary and important - they inform, enrich and support each other. Our mission is…   To provide pupils and families, local authorities and professionals with -   Strategic Leadership Pupil Assessment and Support Professional Learning and Training Specialist Information and Expert Advice Assistive Technology Loans and Technical Support Knowledge Transfer, Research and Development   This years Call Scotland event was again scheduled for Glasgow and Edinburgh but was sadly cancelled due to Covid-19.    Thankfully the team re-organised and re-structered the even into an online format.   What to expect... Online presentations featuring some of the UK's leading suppliers of software and technology to support learners with additional support needs. Online presentations by staff from CALL Scotland highlighting good practice. Prize Draw.   Suitable for those... Working in education with pupils with ASN Supporting students with disabilities in FE/HE Helping adults with disabilities in the community     Exhibitors due to attend include... CandLE Crick Software Google Inspiration KAZ Type Limited LexAble Pretorian ReadingWise Scanning Pens Sonocent Smartbox Special iApps Texthelp Tobii Dynavox   12:30pm - 12:45pm   Keene & Sheraleen Braganza, KAZ Type Limited KAZ Touch Typing programme: helping dyslexic learners to learn typing skills to support literacy challenges Suitable for: Primary, Secondary, FE and HE KAZ's specialised Neurodiverse Touch Typing Software was developed with advice and guidance from the Dyslexia Research Trust. Using a unique and proven Accelerated Teaching method, it teaches typing skills, whilst minimising visual disturbances by means of a unique 'preference screen' - tailoring the course for maximum visibility comfort. It is suitable for individuals with dyslexia, dyspraxia, dysgraphia, ADHD, ASD, Tourette's, amongst others.   to view the KAZ presentation:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGvr4LAQLCk     To view the CallScotland Youtube chanel with all presentations:   https://www.youtube.com/user/callscotland1983/featured     Thank you to all the team at Call Scotland for including KAZ Type in the demonstation day.  

Typing Tournament Leaderboard         First place - Mew at Shrewsbury School - 65 wpm Second place - Leila at ESMS - 58 wpm   Third Place - Finlay at ESMS - 43 wpm     With just 3 weeks to go, will there be a change at the top or will Mew hold onto the crown?

Typing Tournament Leaderboard         First place - Mew at Shrewsbury School - 65 wpm Second place - Leila at ESMS - 58 wpm   Third Place - Finlay at ESMS - 43 wpm     With just 7 weeks to go, there is no change to the top 3! Mew is still holding the crown - will we have a last minute challenger to steal the crown?  

Touch Typing Tournament Leaderboard - Month 3    First - Mew, Shrewsbury School - 65 wpm    Second - Leila, ESMS - 58 wpm    Third - Finlay, ESMS - 43 wpm    Wow! No problems for these students as they progress to FE/HE but will Mew still be holding the crown in Month 4?

Touch Typing Tournament Leaderboard - Month 2     First place - Leila at ESMS - 58 wpm Second place - Mew at Shrewsbury School - 57 wpm  Third Place - Aileen at ESMS - 46 wpm     No change to the top three but lots happening just below. Will Leila still be holding the crown in Month 3?

Upsurge in online learning fuels increasing need for touch typing skills   The UK school sector has lost many teaching days this year one way or another – deep cleaning for norovirus, flooding, snow days in some areas and now the coronavirus, forcing schools to close until further notice. Senior leadership teams are rising to the challenge, making plans for students to continue their education from home. For the first time the computer is becoming the main medium for delivering learning. This trend is likely to continue but underlying issues are coming to light.    Many learners enjoy using resources online but the majority are not trained, equipped or used to producing their work in this way. It is one thing to send a text, fill in a worksheet online or keep in touch with friends on social media but quite another to be expected to use technology for all classwork. Yet in many cases, this is what we will be asking them to do.    Most students are trained to handwrite but not to use a keyboard efficiently. Their keying in skills are poor and many are slow and inaccurate. There are also health and safety issues involved. Long-term extensive use of the keyboard can lead to RSI and possible spinal damage. When you think of how many hours schools spend teaching handwriting, it is quite astounding that they cannot allocate just 90 minutes to teach the basics of touch typing, which is all it takes with KAZ, our Accelerated Learning cloud-based program.    The overriding argument for years has been that children will be expected to write by hand in their examinations but those days may now be numbered. An increasing number of students with dyslexia and other neurodiverse conditions are using word processors as their normal means of working and are now allowed to use the same methods in exams.     Some schools, notably international schools and independent schools in the UK are ahead of the curve, making sure all pupils have had training in touch typing.  At a ‘live classroom’ at BETT Malaysia 2017, Iain Stevens, Head of Curriculum Support at Taylor’s International School, Kuala Lumpur said: ‘One of the things which attracted me to KAZ was the Dyslexia Screen, where you can change the fonts, the colours and so on. When I looked at other programs, they couldn’t actually do that and that was one of the reasons why I chose KAZ.’    Of course, there are free programs available but when pupils are learning online, schools need to be sure that students and their data are safe and not being spammed, as can be the case with free software. Our website and all our courses are secure. We are members of ICO.org and strictly adhere to their rules and regulations. We guarantee no pop-ups, no advertising and no solicitation by email.    Teachers also want to be able to set up students easily and see at a glance if they are doing the work and how well they are progressing. The KAZ admin panel allows teachers to upload student lists in minutes, send logon details using real or pseudo email addresses and monitor student progress in real time. Kathryn Stowell, Head of Outreach and AAC at Charlton Park Academy, supports around 200 secondary students in many schools, so she has first- hand experience of distance learning:  'KAZ teaches touch typing fast so students are not taking much time out from other subjects to learn the keyboard,' said Kathryn. ‘Best of all, we have one portal at the school and can see from the student logins how they are getting on. With students right across London, this saves us time when we are checking on progress.'    Additionally, to help keep students engaged, motivated and on task, we have launched a touch typing competition which runs until June 30th 2020. Students can take the timed test as often as they wish and their best score will be saved. A leader board is published on the KAZ site each month and the final result will be announced in July. Schools that have a KAZ licence can check up on student progress at any time which means they can also run their own in-house tournaments and maybe even pitch staff against students.   Schools that are moving to online learning in the next few months may find several hidden benefits from teaching their students to touch type. Not only will they equip their pupils with a ‘life skill’ they can use whilst at school, for exam access arrangements and carry forward with them into FE and the workplace but pupils may also start composing texts at speeds of around 50–70 words per minute.   The Department of Education has deemed BESA’s LendEd site the ‘go to’ approved platform for home learning resources in the even of school closures. Our software is the only touch typing software listed and approved. In an effort to help schools during this turbulent period of home learning, we have halved the price of all our school online licences. Please use code: KAZC19 at checkout.   https://kaz-type.com/educational-edition.aspx

https://www.naace.co.uk/partner.html?p=10334 The National Association for Education Technology   Naace is a community of teachers, school leaders, advisors, consultants and commercial partners working across all areas of UK education who share a vision for the developing role of technology in education. As a professional association, we represent the voice of the UK education technology community in the schooling sector at a national and international level. We support individuals and groups throughout the education landscape by providing resources for courses and research, and encouraging reflection and professional development. Who is Naace? Naace members and sponsoring partners work in both public and private sectors. They represent a range of professions in the education sphere including teachers, school managers, curriculum leaders, lecturers, local authority advisors, independent consultants, software developers and designers, sales personnel, technicians, student teachers, company managers, national partners and colleagues from commerce and industry. Our members and sponsoring partners share a passion for embedding the effective use of technology into teaching, learning and school management. If you share this passion and are looking to collaborate with like-minded professionals, join Naace to become a part of our community.   What does Naace do? Offers practical information, resources, support and guidance to members, sponsoring partners and UK government departments on current topics relating to education technology Supports networking opportunities for members from schools, academy chains, local authorities, the IT industry and UK government agencies Engages in consultations at local, regional, national and international levels Provides a range of professional development opportunities Why should I join Naace? Naace aims to promote whole school improvement by encouraging appropriate use of education technology across the breadth of the curriculum. By joining Naace, you demonstrate your commitment to this aim and become part of an expert body of edtech professionals. You also join a passionate community that provides peer to peer support, facilitates networking opportunities and acts as a catalyst for educational advancements which will ultimately benefit learners.  Naace is recognised and respected by industry partners, local and regional authorities and the UK government. By increasing Naace membership and strengthening our community of education professionals, we will improve our standing and ability to positively influence UK government policy.