Welcome back! We all hope that you had a fantastic break and feel refrehed and recharged for a new term ahead.
Read on for:
New Mental Health and Wellbeing training and forum offer
Safeguarding updates and new GenAi resource
Busy Things Busy A.I. lesson planner
J2e training and 6-week project opportunities
Quick bites section
Mental Health and Wellbeing training and forum
Have you seen the new Mental Health and Wellbeing training offer and forum?
LGfL's Mental Health and Wellbeing service offers online training, blogs, forums and resources (UDL, Wellbeing connected, and Healthy Minds ) and is intended to support schools to develop a positive culture and talk about "mental wealth". It aims to support schools wherever they are currently on their journey regarding mental health and wellbeing for both staff and pupils, and support parental engagement and social media pressures on young people and families.
New for 2025/26, we offer a 'Masterclass' approach to ensure that delegates can dig deep into the range of subjects and gain a deeper insight. There is also a new session offered, a Mental Health and Wellbeing forum. This is in the same vein as the safeguarding SEND DSL forum to promote more of a sharing community and foster relationships.
Our course scheduling has also changed in 2025/26 to include a later start, and a choice of an am or a pm session to make sessions more accessible for all.
Don't forget we run exceptional training on many elements to support your teaching and learning. All sessions are online and repeated throughout the year to provide you and our staff with practical help and guidance to enhance your confidence and awareness of the range of resources available through your LGfL subscription.
Training includes:
The Big Staff meeting - These free, one-hour online training sessions are designed to save you time and money by showing you how to harness the full power of LGfL’s award-winning resources. You can join as an individual or set it up for a whole-staff meeting, whether everyone is in the hall or their own classrooms.
Inspire iPad training- We run 3 Inspire iPad sessions to support the effective use of iPads as an effective classroom tool.
'Out-of-the-box accessibility features to support all learners'- unlock the potential of the iPad by exploring a range of accessibility features
'Enhancing Communication Skills in the EYFS Using iPad' - enrich and enhance your EYFS environment by using an iPad to help create exciting interactive environments
'Embedding creativity in the curriculum' - explore how to compose music, draw and animate using a range of apps and inbuilt features of the iPad and how this can make any subject come to life and help ignite creativity
Computing Hub sessions
Each term, we run four practical sessions focused on key areas of computing education:
Curriculum Planning: Get hands-on help developing a complete scheme of work that meets the Teach Computing curriculum standards.
Coding & Programming: Master the coding essentials you need to teach with confidence.
Cross-Curricular IT: Learn clever ways to use technology to improve learning and engagement in every subject.
Leadership & Support: Join a dedicated session for leaders to get personalised support and advice.
The safeguarding team at LGfL have been very busy, ensuring all schools are updated on key safeguarding updates and are aware of their FREE training and resources.
See below for all key updates and how to sign up for any further information from the safeguarding team
Generative AI, or GenAI, is a type of artificial intelligence that creates new content. Instead of just analysing existing data like older AI, GenAI can produce original text, images, videos, and more.
From a safeguarding perspective, schools need to be aware of potential harms and issues in Gen AI.
The safeguarding team have created a newGenAI portal- your one-stop shop for further understanding GenAI and its risks.
This 'Busy A.I.' is a tool that helps teachers quickly create lesson plans. Instead of spending hours planning, and comes as part of your LGfL subscription one of our cloud services delivering outstanding value for money.
Busy A.I. is a virtual lesson planner designed to help teachers create lesson plans and find appropriate resources quickly and easily. It works by:
Taking your input: You provide the age group, subject, topic, and available resources/devices.
Generating a plan: The tool then creates a lesson plan with a range of activities.
Integrating resources: It pulls from Busy Things' own extensive library of curriculum-linked activities, which are verified, and also suggests other ideas from the broader internet.
Offering various formats: Once the plan is created, you can save it in multiple formats, such as a PDF for downloadable notes or an editable PowerPoint presentation
Essentially, the tool is meant to be a time-saving assistant, helping teachers structure lessons, find relevant content, and even estimate how long each part of the lesson will take.It's important to note that Busy A.I. is still in beta testing and, like any AI tool, should be reviewed by the user to ensure the information is accurate and age-appropriate before being used in a classroom.
Just2Easy staff training and live lessons
J2e has launched its Autumn term training opportunities. Their live lessons are held every Thursday at 9.30 am, and are interactive, pausable and designed to support a variety of topics across the primary phase, giving classes time to follow along at their own pace.
Or you can take part in the weekly teacher training webinars at 3.30 pm as an opportunity to boost your teaching skills with Just2easy and learn practical tips to make the most of their tools in your classroom.
Remember, the complete Just 2 Easy toolsuite is part of your LGfL subscription, helping you to 'save more than you spend'.
J2e are also running their very popular 'Where in the World are you?' session. It's a 6-week project where small groups of schools from around the globe become digital pen pals, creating and sharing eBooks about their local areas.
EdTech Hubs Autumn dates There are many EdTech hub sessions scheduled for the Autumn term, including the ever-popular Summit on the 24th November at Samsung KX. Save the date now in your diary!
Adobe Live lessons Autumn schedule and ebook update Adobe Live lessons are back for the Autumn term, with many exciting subjects where your pupils will be guided through creating two digital media pieces aligned with key school dates and topics. Register for these sessions here. Also, there are 10 new ebook activities, all planned in detail with video tutorials! Find themhere
Next level Learning from Canva
Canva for Education is 100% free for primary and secondary schools.
Join a Canva Learning Lab session to discover how Canva Education can help teachers and students create, collaborate and bring learning to life.
Invitation to the London Schools Symphony Orchestra
Monday 15th September 2025, Barbican Hall, 7:30 pm
The London Schools Symphony Orchestra (LSSO) invites you to their 2025 season finale at the Barbican Centre, exploring themes of identity and place.
To request 1 or 2 tickets, please email Alice Dagg at alice.dagg@gsmd.ac.uk by Tuesday, September 9th, 2025.
SEND DSL forum
Our next session will be on 1st October, with the focus on 'Tips for managing tricky safeguarding conversations with parents'. The forum will focus on practical support, with an opportunity to exchange good practice and challenges across settings. To book on, please register here
Royal Collection Trust
Bookings for visits to the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace are now open for September, including the exclusive access days (School Groups only) on Wednesdays 17 and 24 Sept and “Schools Week” 29 Sept to 3 October.
The travel scheme can provide up to £175 towards any travel costs. Find out more by clicking here.
LGfL Training
Online training events are free for all school staff to attend (*with the exception of the Designated Safeguarding Lead Training which we offer to LGfL customers only). Please click the button below to see the extensive training programme available.
