The Life Science Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne is packed full of hands-on fun to support the science curriculum – as well as offering CPD in maths as well as science. The centre’s claim to fame is the purpose-built teaching laboratories which makes it the largest provider of schools science workshops in any European museum or science centre. More than 40,000 educational experiences are offered to primary and secondary students every year, offering curriculum enrichment and enhancement by providing access to equipment and expertise that is not normally available in schools. Workshops can be booked on demand and cover a range of topics including energy and electricity, human health and life processes and DNA and cell biology. Other STEM subjects are covered through such programmes as Mathstastic programme – lively activities to bring out the fun in maths and astronomy. The sessions are run by ‘Science Explainers’ who are all ‘young and well-qualified science graduates’ who provide excellent role models for teenagers. For more details check out the website www.life.org.uk. You might also wish to book tickets to the controversial Body Worlds exhibition which is running until November.

England will be going football-crazy once the FIFA World Cup gets underway this month. There are loads of ways the themes can be incorporated into classes. There are some great ideas in the usual places but I did like the Oxfam Education programme The World Cup: A Fair Game? that uses the competition to explore inequality, as well as supporting work in English, Maths and Geography. Find out more at: www.oxfam.org.uk.

Adding some depth to music lessons with some excellence in the genre of world music are the musicians who make up Baka Beyond, which has released a new album After the Tempest. The band has been around a while – their album Spirit of the Forest was released 21 years ago and helped to define the genre of world music. The group works with the Baka Forest People of Cameroon, who originally inspired their sound. The key players, Martin Cradick and Su Hart spend several months in the country and set up the charity Global Music Exchange to facilitate this work – in between tours. After their recent tour last year, the band was invited to the Penpont Estate in Wales to provide live music for a version of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, a first for them. Two tracks on the new album Ariel’s Song and Full Fathom Five are from this production. All royalties owed to the Baka musicians go to them via the registered charity Global Music Exchange www.1heart.org