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Another BETT waiting just around the corner!

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:54:00 +0100

It may feel like just a short while ago that exhibitors and visitors fought the snow to attend the world’s largest education technology event, BETT 2010. However, with 6 months to go until BETT 2011, the BETT PR team at Mango are already getting to work to help make 2011 another fantastic show!

As one of the biggest events in the education calendar, BETT 2011 will be crucial for educators looking to gain a positive insight into how to manage the mountain of change that has been thrown at the sector since the May election. With the government’s encouragement of the set up of academies and more freedom for schools in terms of procurement, educators will have the chance to touch and test the latest resources on offer. BETT will even help with the creation of new learning environments, with an area dedicated to Future Learning Spaces. An exciting gaming feature, organised by the legendary Prof. Stephen Heppell, is also hitting BETT 2011 with demonstrations of the newest gaming resources on offer to schools each day.

As many of you know, Mango always encourages the 700 exhibitors to let us know what they are doing at the show, whether it is launching a new product or showcasing an existing solution or service. If you are reading this, knowing that you are exhibiting at BETT 2011 – let us know your plans, we want to hear!

The Academies Bill: What's next?

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:22:00 +0100

Academies Bill: What's next?

The Academies Bill is generating much discussion recently, and with the possibility of the Bill being passed this week, the debate intensifies.

Concerns have been expressed that the Government is trying to rush this legislation through by adopting a compressed process whereby a panel of MPs debate the proposed law for a mere five hours. The reason this is gaining so much attention is that this process is generally only used for anti-terror laws or constitutional matters. It also raises the question of whether such a minimal amount of time is suitable when contemplating a bill that could have such an enormous affect on our education system?

Further concerns have been raised over the fact that this could lead to an elite proportion of schools. Feelings on this side of the fence are clearly strong. Ed Balls, former education secretary, opposing the process said: "I cannot remember a time when a major reform of public services was rushed through parliament in a way that's only normally done for emergencies like anti-terrorism legislation."

So what are the benefits of this? Those backing the Bill believe that if it is passed quickly it will allow schools to opt out of local authority control and become academies directly funded by central government by September of this year. It is said that it would allow more autonomy, freedom and flexibility to improve standards. In addition it could facilitate a greater level of curriculum control, improve outcomes for the disadvantaged, and potentially lead to better results.

It is the announcements this week which are being eagerly awaited that will reveal exactly what's next for academies, and what lies ahead for our ever changing education system.

Food for thought

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:17:00 +0100

Healthy eating in schools is a topic that has dominated the headlines recently, not more so than since the launch of Jamie Oliver’s healthy school dinner campaign. Schools and parents alike have faced criticism for providing children with a choice of unhealthy lunches. In the past week, Oliver’s approach to overhauling school lunches has been slated by health secretary, Andrew Lansley, who commented that people should take responsibility for their own health. Lansley believes that Oliver’s campaign has failed and not had the desired effect, resulting in a decrease of children opting for school lunches that are provided. Oliver has retorted to this comment as being untrue and blames a continuing lack of funds for training of school catering staff.

In a society where we are faced with quick fixes and often unhealthy convenience foods, the focus needs to prominently be on educating children and their families to support them in making the right choices regarding diet. A balance is essential. However, as Oliver revealed when he initially embarked on his campaign, for many families quantity overrides quality and when you have hungry mouths to feed and a lack of funds, the seemingly filling and less expensive foods tend to win. Although Lansley makes a valid point in that people don’t like being dictated to and should have the freedom to make independent decisions, Oliver’s campaign has successfully achieved an increase in government funding, which surely can only be a positive.

The bottom line however, is that we live in a free society, in which adults and children are entitled to make personal choices. Enforcement leads to rebellion. Educating people is instrumental; it is through this that we can hope individuals make a positive and informed decision towards selecting healthy choices.

The STEM of employability

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 12:02:00 +0100

Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource. JFK

Ensuring that today’s pupils are ready for the jobs of tomorrow is a vital part of education and never more so than now. Wednesday’s emergency budget heralds a period of austerity in the UK and, with a job market that many expect to shrink, employability is a crucial issue that seems set to receive continued focus from the Government. The STEM agenda has a truly fundamental part to play in this.

The STEM agenda is not a new initiative by any means but it has been under renewed focus over the past few years. In 2008, the CBI Education & Skills survey reported that nine out of ten firms employ STEM-skilled people but the skills-shortage in the UK means that over a third of larger employers recruit from overseas. With this year’s crop of graduates facing a shortage of jobs, investing time and funds in increasing the next generation’s ability to compete in the international employment market is essential.

It is often said that the strength of the STEM workforce is viewed as an indicator of a nation's ability to sustain itself. The latest gadgets, scientific discoveries and breakthroughs, the latest machinery – all can, and do, drive economies and all rely on a highly skilled and creative STEM workforce. The younger generation is the best natural resource that we have. Embedding the skills necessary for them to discover their talents, then use them to innovate and invent is a vital part of creating the economic certainty that the UK wants so badly. Wouldn’t it be amazing to have the 21^st century’s version of Brunel, Newton or Darwin; someone whose innovation, whose leap of intellect changes the world for the better? With the blistering rate at which technology progresses, I’d love to think it wouldn’t be long before we have the flying (zero emission) cars and the transporter devices of science fiction stories. How proud would we be if Britain led the field? So let’s teach our children about the practical application of science, technology, engineering and maths. Let’s inspire them. If we play the next few decades right in education, their skills and abilities could be the bedrock on which the UK’s financial security can be built.

Change is on the way

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:54:00 +0100

On 7^th May 2010 we awoke to hear the news of a brand new coalition government, leaving many of us intrigued as to what changes lay ahead. Many changes have already been announced, not just in the public sector but across a range of sectors. This week however, the news broke that Labour’s new primary curriculum is to be scrapped as part of a £359m programme of education cuts, a change of particular interest to all of us working in the education sector.

The new primary curriculum which was due to start in September next year, would have split primary teaching into six new areas of learning, with information and communication technology (ICT) a core skill. The idea was to offer these six broad areas of learning in order to help schools and children make coherent links across all their learning.

Whilst the axing of the new primary curriculum may have been hinted at before the general election, many educators were remaining positive and as a result the recent news is likely to have come as a disappointment. Many teachers are likely to have already begun investing their time getting to grips with what was believed to be on the horizon, by researching and preparing new classroom materials. Undoubtedly, many educational suppliers may also feel disappointed by the news, and the consequence of having to refine their resources to keep in line with new developments. Amid a difficult financial climate, this can be tough.

Of course, it is important to remember that despite this, money is the reason for the changes, with the new government attempting to rein in spending. Consequently there may also be many people that are keen to welcome the news.

Whatever your opinion may be, the scrapping of the new primary curriculum certainly offers food for thought and reminds us that with the new government, more changes may be on the way.

Free schools - a spirited debate

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 16:18:00 +0100

The Tories vision of free schools, which was also addressed in the Queen's speech, has dominated headlines recently. The scheme, based on the Swedish system, allows parents, charities, trusts, commercial companies and other providers to set up local schools funded by the state.

Naturally with an idea of such magnitude opinions are split. Will it materialise to be a positive change for the education sector or is it a detrimental move?

The argument for
Those that back the free schools idea, such as education secretary, Michael Gove are of the opinion that it gives power to the people by allowing schools to be separate from local authority control. They are even permitted to design their own curriculums and determine the pay structure. Through reallocating such responsibility it is believed that teachers will be provided with more flexibility and freedom from existing bureaucracy, while parents should benefit from a greater choice of schools for their children.

It has also been argued that the concept encourages the creation of more innovative and dynamic schools; something that the industry is always striving for, right?

Free schools are open to sponsors too, which raises some interesting issues. For instance, if a commercial company supported more than one school then economies of scale are potentially achievable. It has even been implied that if supported by a commercial brand, schools could actually benefit from the brand value.

The question is of course whether these so called benefits outweigh the negatives that people opposing the concept are stressing.

The argument against
Those with reservations about the concept believe that the outsourcing of public education to private, profit-driven companies is a recipe for disaster and will create issues that are damaging to education as a whole as well as undermining local government.

Even the Swedish education minister, Bertil Ostberg has condemned free schools and as a stark warning to Britain, has declared them a failure. On a similar note, Ed Balls, the former secretary of state for children, schools and families, fears that free schools will poach high achieving students and teachers which will cause a setback for education and consequently "turn out to be deeply, deeply unfair." Would this widen the gap between the wealthy and underprivileged yet further?

As a potentially expensive proposal, the lack of current funding has also been highlighted as an issue. Other capital programmes may be subject to cuts in order to reallocate funds. Therefore those who are sceptical about the idea feel it is difficult to justify new schools when it is necessary to siphon money from other important projects.

Just last week Michael Gove stated that companies would be free to make money from schools. So is it possible that free schools could open the flood gates to inappropriate sponsors attracted by potential profits? Would a global fast food company be considered a suitable sponsor?

Whether you are for or against free schools, it is certainly raising interesting issues and generating a lively debate amongst those of us in the education sector and beyond.

Making Academies shine

Fri, 28 May 2010 11:08:00 +0100

Exactly two years ago the teachers at a Derby school staged a one-day strike over plans to turn it into an academy. Ministers then planned to have 200 academies open or in the pipeline by 2010, seeing them as a key way of improving schools. Two years on and the coalition’s education secretary Michael Gove set out his vision for all schools to have the opportunity to break away from local authority control and become academies. While Mr Gove marks these changes and new freedom as the catalyst to drive up standards for all schools, critics have warned that the changes risk fragmenting state education, with the most disadvantaged children losing out.

At Mango Marketing we’re lucky enough to work with an Academy, St Matthew in Lewisham, which is certainly one shining example of how academies can increase standards.

Replacing a school which was closed down after going into special measures, St Matthew Academy had its fair share of challenges. A large number of its pupils came from the failing school but fast forward three years and Ofsted has stated that the school is rapidly improving.

Monica Cross, principal of St Matthew Academy, and her staff have strived to create an enriched and innovative environment for the students and the results are clear.

So although we have a school who took on possibly more challenges than others, it has a team of highly experienced teachers passionate about the success of the school. I wonder therefore whether the improvement in standards that the coalition is aiming for is related to whether or not the school comes under local authority control or more importantly, whether the school has wonderfully able and dedicated teachers.

Facebook as a tool for teachers

Wed, 19 May 2010 11:57:00 +0100

Something that grabbed my attention today was a new report which states that Facebook has become one of the biggest influences on the lives of young people, especially for girls. A study of eight to 15 year-olds for National Family Week found 40 per cent of girls and 6 per cent of boys identified Facebook as one of the most important things in their lives. Interestingly, many parents were found to underestimate the significance of technology.

More than just a youngster’s ‘craze’, Facebook has rapidly become something important in the lives of all age groups. With regards to education, as it is more widely becoming known, social media has the power to change teacher’s professional worlds, as well as their personal ones, by providing a platform to get their voices heard. Facebook is one example of a tool for support, encouragement and the sharing of ideas at every level in education.

Ultimately, it promotes the idea that absolutely anyone can be involved in solving the problems of our era. With social media tools, an individual or small group of teachers can tell the wider world their ideas for a better school environment, and express their opinions on policies which may control their practice. They can express which tools and resources they like, and ones that need further improvement. They can take ideas from a Facebook page, for example, to use in their classroom, and then post their creations on that Facebook page for the world to see.

Here at Mango some of the team have been busy creating a Facebook page for STABILO, the international writing instrument, highlighting and colouring manufacturer best known for producing the number one selling highlighter, the STABILO BOSS. STABILO also produces the EASYergonomics range of writing and colouring products. STABILO recognises the benefits of social media and actively encourages two-way communication with its customer base. They wanted to engage with teachers and as a result we have produced a fun, colourful and engaging Facebook page to create a UK based education community! It was launched last week with a whole host of exciting content, such as lesson plans, games and a discussion page. Check it out at www.facebook.com/stabiloukeducation and feel free to join in on the fun!

Carly

How will May 6th 2010 affect the education sector?

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 08:58:00 +0100

With next week becoming one of the most historical events in the 21^st century for politics and the UK, how will the General Election shape our education system?

Education has always been one of the top issues for the government with each party placing it high on their agenda as an area to improve. In recent years we have seen initiatives such as the 14-19 Reform, Every Child Matters Agenda, reduced class sizes and free nursery places for under 5s introduced. But what changes will we see over the next few years?

The three main parties have released their manifestos and although they all seem to put education as a top priority how do their policies differ from one another?

The Labour Party has promised:

To continue to roll-out Academies independent of local authority control

To increase free nursery hours

To introduce “licence to practice” for teachers

To encourage schools to pool budgets in school chains, allowing stronger schools to raise standards in weaker schools.

The Conservative Party has pledged:

To allow every existing school, including primaries, to seek academy status

To give local parents the chance to take over schools threatened by closure

To create a Pupil Premium, giving more money to schools that teach the poorest children

To give head teachers power to pay “good” teachers more

The Liberal Democrat Party has proposed:

To replace National Curriculum with a Minimum Curriculum Entitlement to allow teachers more flexibility

To create a General Diploma made up of GCSEs, A-Levels and Vocational Qualifications

To guarantee Special Educational Needs (SEN) assessments for all 5-year-olds.

To provide £32.5bn for a “Pupil Premium” for schools teaching the poorest pupils.

It is safe to say that no matter which party comes into power, we will certainly see changes to our education system.

The year for green fingers

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 15:27:00 +0100

2010, International Year of Biodiversity; how eco-friendly have you been so far?

With the fast approaching Government target of every school being sustainable by 2020, do we need to consider how we are actually helping our youth to understand the hows and whys of eco-friendly actions?

To a young child the topic of sustainability is no doubt incredibly overwhelming. If I think back to my time at school, terms such as ‘eco-friendly,’ ‘climate change’ and ‘endangered species’ were difficult to comprehend. Even once I was older and had a better understanding, it was still tricky to understand their meaning and the extent of the damage suffered by our planet. Text books and the Internet certainly had their limitations; after all it’s only a one dimensional form of learning...

With sustainability undeniably a topic that many young people overlook, we need to consider how we can help them understand the need for sustainability. What is the importance of being environmentally friendly? Why do we need to protect the planet’s biodiversity; forests, endangered animals and diminishing amounts of fuel and energy supplies?

Will it be through nature inspired play equipment that allows young children to find their green fingers? This could actively encourage children to feed and grow their own plants or herbs; or recycle their lunch left-over’s so to understand the natural process of composting and recycling.

Or can school financial management tools offer a solution to help reduce a school’s carbon footprint? Will ICT based meal management systems be the answer to correctly sized school meals thus limiting food waste?

Or, could a career advice service that advises our youth on their employability and how certain jobs can impact positively on our world hold the key to environmental enlightenment?

Children don’t want to be told, nor shown how to be ‘green;’ let’s give them the chance to actively engage with their future and make a real difference to their planet.

Future Careers

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 09:57:00 +0100

Those with a clear-cut idea of the career path that they wish to pursue from a young age are few and far between and are very fortunate. As with many of us when we are young and full of dreams, we do have numerous ideas, yet they are often not easily obtainable and we therefore run the risk of disappointment.

And, the careers advice at a school leaves more than a little to be desired. Now forgive the cynicism but being presented with a list of questions to answer, which then result in reams of apparently appropriate professions to me, is not particularly useful advice. The roles ideal for me ranged from doctor (I’m a caring person), to tree surgeon (I like being outside), beautician (I like lipgloss), to plumber (ummm?!).

Now, don’t get me wrong, they’re all extremely valuable areas of employment but vary quite drastically.... and I’m not sure any particularly suit me. At a young, impressionable age, when considering what to study at A Level or University you need helpful advice. Being presented with 500, seemingly randomly selected jobs, is more of a hindrance and confusion than anything.

When I found out about the Eden Project’s newly launched careers website, Real Cool Futures, an interactive online community that offers career guidance and includes jobs you may not have thought of, I was particularly impressed. The most positive aspect of the website is that it provides advice for how to turn talents into the necessary skills and accreditation to pursue jobs which are ethical and sustainable; something particularly important for children of the future to consider. I personally believe that young people should remain care-free and enjoy their childhood for as long as possible without the burden of career decisions, however, with an increasingly competitive job market any practical advice offers huge value. If only they’d had this when I was at school..............

Maths CAN be fun

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:42:00 +0100

A new channel 4 documentary, Dispatches: Kids Don't Count, investigates primary maths within the UK and got me thinking about my experiences with the subject. It’s amazing the effect that just the mention of the word can have on some children; the sheer thought can cause some to shudder. But why is the subject perceived so negatively by so many children?

There’s no doubt about it; maths is an important subject. It’s probably not until now that I realise how much so. It’s when I’m trying to calculate the amount I’ll save on a pair of shoes with a 15% reduction that I think, thank goodness I learnt that in school! However, when I was actually at school, the one lesson I would have given up at the drop of a hat would have been maths. No matter how hard I tried and how much I studied, I just didn’t get it! It wasn’t a subject that came naturally. Developing a positive attitude towards a subject you loathe is even more difficult when you perceive a clash with your teacher; I thought that my final maths teacher despised me which didn’t help my attitude towards the subject. I was eventually informed that I was ‘no good’ at maths, might as well give up trying and should expect an E in my GCSEs. Retrospectively, perhaps this was cunning reverse psychology to encourage me to prove him wrong. Whatever it was it worked and after wading through hours of algebra, mental arithmetic and fractions I successfully achieved a C.

Nowadays, children are fortunate to have things like online, games-based maths resources which make it a lot more interesting. With World Maths Day, children can compete against their peers across the globe which is amazing and such a comparison to when I was at school!

If maths is delivered in such an interesting way that children can actually relate to then it does have the potential to be an interesting and engaging subject. As with many subjects, it’s the way it’s taught that’s important. It’s taken some convincing but I realise now that maths doesn’t have to be a chore!

Christmas and New Year wishes

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:34:00 +0100

As we reach the end of yet another year, the Mango team would like to send a big thank you to our clients for all your support during 2009. We are lucky enough to partner with a fantastic group of clients, and as always it has been a pleasure working with everyone.

It has been a good year at Mango; we have welcomed a number of new clients from 3P Learning and Immersive Education to Groupcall and Playforce along with many others; we have scooped a selection of industry awards which have taken pride of place in the office; and last but not least we have also welcomed new staff to the team.

We wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year, and we look forward to working with you all again in 2010.

Best wishes

The Mango team

Christmas is in the air...

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:13:00 +0100

On Friday 11^th December the Mango team had no typical working day ahead of them; before daylight had even broken we were on our way to catch the Eurostar and celebrate Christmas in style with a trip across the waters to the city of Bruges.

With the Christmas markets, mulled wine, roaring fires and twinkling lights, Bruges was the perfect place to embrace the Christmas season, and what better way to get started than to crack open the bubbly when speeding through the tunnel!

Famous for its chocolate, a stop in every shop was a must – spoilt for choice, this was a big step up from the daily sweet run in the office, usually instigated by one particular Mango (and frustratingly the skinniest!) who was certainly in her element!

We continued our Christmas celebrations into the night, experiencing some, should we say, ‘questionable’ taste in music from the Bruges nightlife (including some very random song which discussed fast food chains). Then, before we made our way home the following day, we had a traditional horse and carriage ride around the town – a great way to see the sights in style!

After a brilliant trip in a beautifully festive city, Christmas is now well and truly in the Mango air!

Let's get couch kids active!

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 10:52:00 +0100

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) reported in November, as part of its ‘Couch Kids’ report, that ‘parents have big misconceptions about the amount of exercise their children do. 71 per cent of nearly 1,000 parents polled think their children are "active enough" but only 10 per cent of their children say they do the recommended amount.’

Childhood obesity and physical activity has remained a popular headline for months as far back as I can remember, but this recent headline along with exposure to further advances in children’s education and ICT availability, got me thinking...

Young children have a veracious passion to play; many years ago it was a daily occurrence to see children playing ‘tag’ or hopscotch in their local park or residential area. Today however, this tends to be a less common sight, reasons ranging from safety fears to a generation of youth glued to the television or latest gadget.

The bulging excitement around ICT and array of gadgets available both in the education market and also home entertainment market has of course taken children’s development to new heights. But I think we must be mindful of the fact that a child’s interest in inquisitive play may be silenced by the ever-increasing ICT provision both in their homes and at school.

No matter the equipment a child uses; whether they ‘go back to nature’ and play outdoors, in a playground as their counterparts would have done in previous years for example, or as the stereotypical modern day youth would play on the latest interactive dance mats or Wii applications, active play linked to the curriculum should be an essential component, shouldn’t it?

To ensure a healthy and active youth, schools should expand on their duty of care. Schools have performed amazing things; the installation of state of the art technologies has taken pedagogy to new heights, initiatives such as Building Schools for the Future (BSF) and One Laptop per Child (OLPC) have reaped wonders for the state of UK education. But take a moment to consider the immense strength of teaming ICT with physical activity; does this not provide the answer to two key goals; a physically active youth reaping the rewards of interactive, personalised and engaging technologies?

The Government’s Extended Services programme is further food for thought; throughout 2008-2011 funding has been allocated to help schools work with LAs, local providers, and each other to provide a varied menu of activities in primary and secondary schools and community access. Consider here technologies that could be used in afterschool gymnastics clubs to measure posture and teach children and adults the importance of stance and body positions; technologies that could teach velocity, energy generation and fatigue in athletics; technologies that could further one’s mathematic ability through dance.

Let’s ‘place the ball in their court.’ Children hold many a vision; they will soon, if not already, be inventing favourable ways of teaching the curriculum or learning certain modules of a course. Maybe the way forward is to listen to their needs – it is their education after all?

Early mornings detrimental to learning?

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:43:00 +0100

Unveiled this week in The Independent is a sleep experiment being undertaken at Monkseaton High School in North Tyneside in which lesson starting times have been delayed to 10 am. The purpose of the project is to ascertain whether students perform better with a lie-in.

Now, a typical school day certainly does seem lengthy for a child; being expected to attend school earlier than some adults have arrived at their desk, and then finishing only a couple of hours earlier seems unfair in many ways, especially at this early age of development. And that’s not even taking into consideration the hours of homework teenagers are faced with each week! Research conducted by sleep expert Professor Foster demonstrates that young people going through puberty require more sleep than the rest of us, with the studies also revealing that students perform better in the afternoon. Professor Foster even goes as far to describe the routine of early morning starts on children as “cruel” and blames this as a cause for underachievement. To describe early mornings as cruel, is perhaps a little extreme, but his points are undoubtedly valid and provide food for thought. Perhaps we are caught in a long-established routine of early morning lessons for school children, which realistically is unnecessary and archaic...

However, Foster’s comment about University students “exposed to considerable dangers from sleep deprivation,” is an even more thought-provoking point, with the cause of this sleep deprivation certainly debatable. By the time a student starts University, they are a young adult rather than a child. And of course, there will always be the excessively conscientious students, diligently working into the small hours, as there will also be a breed of work obsessed adults who don’t know when to stop. But in this case however, I think it’s fair to say that the main instigator of sleep deprivation in University students is not over-exertion in the library or ‘death by the text book,’ but propping up the bar at the student union’s regular “BOGOF” night.

Starting school at five - too early?

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:08:00 +0100

A friend of mine has a little boy of 16 months who isn’t yet crawling, let along walking like all his little friends, and she’s petrified there’s something wrong with him.

I keep reassuring her however that he will eventually catch up with the others – after all, have you seen a child start school who hasn’t yet learnt to walk? Each child’s development differs enormously and different factors will affect this when growing up.

I’m an October born girl and so at four (nearly five) started school full-time whilst a lot of my friends with birthdays after Christmas only did half days. I wouldn’t say it necessarily gave me more advantage than others academically, however there has been a huge debate recently about what age children should start school. Ed Balls recommends that ‘the sooner children start school the sooner they catch up with their peers’, yet The Cambridge Primary Review says that all children should be given a play-based curriculum at a young age to allow pupils to develop emotional and social skills, and so should start school at six.

I suppose we first should look at other successful systems and what they do. Children in Scandinavian countries do not start lessons until seven but often outperform those in UK schools. A lot of time and effort is invested in social development and it’s got me thinking about how little time we spend on this, not just at an early age, but throughout the whole of education. As we need to learn how to interact with other children when we start primary school, we need to learn how to manage in a team at work, how to handle an interview, how to talk to customers or clients, how to respect managers or directors – very little of which is actually taught in school, college or university. This to me is just as important as academic qualifications – a person with character, personality and charm will no doubt get on in life just as well as one with a first class degree.

I recognise that many children don’t have parents who are able to teach them the skills of communication, and some parents work long hours and therefore need their children to be cared for at five; however, if this is what we can develop in the extra year or two before starting school at six, in a nursery environment or similar, it would be a welcome alternative to assessing five year olds on academic capabilities.

Carly

Mango celebrates; Oh what a night!

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:57:00 +0100

What a proud bunch we are at the Mango offices today! Last night we made the journey down to Brighton to the Hilton Metropole for the prestigious CIPR PRide awards 2009. These are THE industry awards that recognise excellence and reward achievement in PR and communications across the UK.

As finalists for a staggering and unprecedented four entries, we were already beaming with excitement. This is quite an achievement in itself and one that we were all thrilled with. The Mango team were shortlisted for:

• Corporate and Business Communications - OLM Group
• Corporate and Business Communications - BETT
• Best Campaign £10k and under - Securus
• Outstanding Public Relations Consultancy - Mango Marketing

Dressed up to the nines, the Mango team had a good night ahead. After enjoying a lovely meal, the awards themselves got under way.

The sheer hard work, professionalism and creativeness of the Mango team has once again received recognition. We scooped the Silver award in the Corporate and Business Communications category for the team's work on BETT 2009, which is fantastic. We were also presented framed finalist certificates for our work on the OLM Group account, the Securus account and for Mango Marketing itself in the Outstanding Public Relations Consultancy. These will all take pride of place in the Mango office!

Here at Mango we are incredibly proud of our achievements as it demonstrates just how valuable and successful our public relations work is. We always receive extremely positive feedback from everyone we work with, be it clients, editors, journalists, or other associates. To then be recognised by the industry association is an enormous compliment.

It has been a great morale booster for the Mango team and of course for our clients. A special thank you to Securus, OLM Group and BETT for your support with these entries, and to CIPR for such a wonderful evening.

There is of course no rest for the wicked, and we're already thinking about which categories to enter for next year's awards!

An Eventful Month

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:00:00 +0100

The month of October brings with it work a-plenty in the world of Mango, however, for the events team managing two of the largest education trade shows, BETT and the Education Show, it is a particularly important time of the year!

It may be difficult for many to consider the thought of Christmas shopping, decorations and turkey nearing, let alone the New Year, however for the Mango events team the discussion of 2010 is a regular occurrence. Whilst this may seem like a distant dream for most, with BETT taking place in January, and the Education Show in March, for Mango the work has already begun with operations kicking off months ago!! Currently, the team is caught up in a whirlwind of editorial, exhibitor information, blogs and newsletters – making October an exciting but hectic time.

Whilst we may be in the thick of it with BETT, the ball is beginning to roll on the Education Show, Mango’s brand new project, awarded to us for the first time this year. As a result, Mango is looking forward to 2010 being a particularly exciting year, working further with educational suppliers and strengthening our relationship with the sector media. Keen to never miss a toast, Mango has already been celebrating after discovering that so far, we have already managed to increase the number of publications who ran Education Show previews last year – hurrah!

Having worked on BETT for the last four years, this year the events team are trying something new and taking on the power of social media - particularly Twitter – since becoming better “tweeters” after undertaking social media PR training. This has become a great tool of communication for us, and has found to be truly useful on a number of occasions – desperate attempts to reign in exhibitor information for last minute editorial deadlines has yielded the results we needed! Keep an eye on the Mango, BETT and Ed Show twitter pages, and if you aren’t following, please do – we promise to return the favour!

It's champers o'clock!

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:34:00 +0100

It's been awards aplenty this week at Mango. The champers is flowing for two of our clients whilst another client prepares for its annual awards to celebrate inclusive practice. It's not just our clients though; the Mango team eagerly awaits to hear the results of the forthcoming Chartered Institute of Public Relation (CIPR) PRide Awards 2009.

Firstly, to our clients - our congratulations goes out to TrueTube who has won the prestigious International Visual Communications Association (IVCA) Clarion Award for best website. The IVCA Clarion Awards celebrate excellence in communications that promote social inclusion, sustainable development and ethical debate. Well done!

We also make a toast to our games-based revision and learning client, ‘i am learning'. The company has won Yorkshire and Humberside Most Promising New Business in the British Chamber of Commerce Awards. Now the team hope for a good result as a finalist in the National awards! Well done and good luck at the Nationals guys!

Preparations for our client nasen's annual Awards are thoroughly underway. Firmly established amongst the most prestigious in the UK, the education awards celebrate excellence in books and resources for special educational needs. Authors and publishers striving to promote knowledge and understanding of inclusion hold the awards in high regard. Good luck to all involved!
Being celebrated within the sector is a wonderful opportunity for our fantastic clients to showcase their work. Thursday 27th October can't come quick enough for the team here at Mango. Having been shortlisted for an outstanding, four industry awards, we now look forward to donning our dresses and dipping our toes into the sector spotlight.

And Mango has received its own reward this week as Helen has returned from maternity leave! Having looked after her beautiful daughter Beatrice for the past year (who now sports a highly fashionable side fringe at the age of just 11 months and even belongs to a modelling agency!), Helen returns to the life of a Mango. It's time to lose the ‘goo-goo ga-ga' speak and string whole sentences together Helen!

Nicki

Power of Twitter

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:27:00 +0100

As a PR firm, communication is at the core of our business - communication of our client's brand, ethos, products, services and news. The strength of our media relationships helps us obtain great coverage for our clients on a regular basis. When editorial coverage is such a strength it can be easy to disregard new communication tools as fads but do this too often, and with too little thought or research, and you might get left at the back of the pack, writing off a tool that can be incredibly useful. Twitter falls under this category. At first seen as a forum for constant Facebook status updates ("why would I want to know what you had for breakfast / lunch / dinner?" etc), Twitter has fast become one of the most powerful communication tools on the internet. Far from being a fad, it can start movements, help you manage a crisis, get a message out with speed and accuracy and drive traffic to your client's site - ultimately raising their profile.

I was one of the naysayers to begin with. Having grown tired of Facebook - stop throwing sheep at me! - I failed to see the point of Twitter for personal use. Other people's Tweets are rarely that interesting, I thought (unless you're Stephen Fry, who is always interesting). Then one of our team began to promote the use of Twitter for business and I saw the light. So consider this my personal apology to Twitter and my thanks to my colleague. It has turned out to be one of the most useful things I have learned this year and all of the Mangos are now experts in how to use Twitter for the benefit of our clients. Welcome to the Twitter-verse.

Rachel

Seven months, one day, one hour and seven minutes of website design. ...

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:58:00 +0100

Given that we are a PR and marketing agency, you'd think that it would take us no time at all to create our new Mango website. However, that old adage certainly applied to this process, in that we have become our own worst critics! In the event team‘s quiet season (just after BETT 2009 wound up in March this year), we thought it would be the perfect time to give our site an overhaul. Low and behold, real life took over and our own PR and marketing activity took a back seat to far more important work for our clients.

Fast-forward seven months and we are (finally) launching our brand new site. It truly has become a labour of love, because when you have an office filled with creative people determined to pull everything to bits, change our mind, and no doubt cause our design agency a complete headache throughout the entire half year period, what else could it be? We even had to cast a vote on the title of the first news piece!

Nevertheless, here it is, filled with plenty of case studies and featuring lots of lovely quotes from our fantastic clients and the media that we enjoy working with day in day out.

So a big thanks to everyone involved, to those that contributed, and especially for giving great feedback on everything to do with the site. We hope you enjoy getting to know Mango, and we encourage you to get in touch or add Mango news to your RSS feeds for a little bit of light-hearted ‘Mangoness' direct to your inbox each week.