The life-changing contribution of teachers is to be celebrated with a new campaign to align with UNESCO’s World Teachers’ Day.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson is encouraging teachers, heads and school leaders to take part in the day’s celebrations by posting their own videos across social media about why they are #ProudToTeach.

World Teachers’ Day, to be held on Saturday 5 October, provides an occasion to take stock of teachers’ achievements, with this year’s theme focusing on ‘Young Teachers: The future of the Profession’.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said:

Teachers here in England, and around the world, have a truly life-changing impact on their students, acting as inspirational educators, role-models and mentors.

I will always have fond memories of the teachers who guided and encouraged me through my school life, and today I want to celebrate the same role that all teachers have in young people’s lives. And I want all those at the front of our classrooms, inspiring our young people, to feel valued in the profession and to use today’s celebration to mark the variety of reasons they are proud to teach.

Minister Gibb today met Peter Tabichi, winner of the Global Teacher Prize 2019. He donates 80% of his monthly income to help pupils from poor families in the Kenyan village where he works.

In the next academic year, school teachers and leaders are set to receive an above inflation pay rise, after the Education Secretary accepted all the recommendations from the independent School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), to raise the upper and lower boundaries of all pay ranges by 2.75 per cent.

The increase in pay will be supported by an additional £105 million to be paid through the teachers’ pay grant, on top of the £321 million already committed for the 2019-20 financial year, and is equivalent to a £1,000 increase to average classroom teacher pay and a £1,620 increase in the average pay of school leaders.

Teachers’ starting salaries are also set to rise to £30,000 by 2022-23, under government plans for the biggest reform to teacher pay in a generation.

The move would make starting salaries for teachers among the most competitive in the graduate labour market, building on the above-inflation average pay increases for teachers in the last two years.

The Teacher’s Pension Scheme is also one of the most generous on offer. From September, the government will be fully funding increased contributions into the scheme, so that school leaders can focus as much of their resources as possible on the front line. It means teachers will get an employer contribution of 23.6% on top their salary towards their pension every year to ensure the scheme is fully funded.

Teachers can get involved with the campaign by posting videos to social media with the reasons they are #ProudToTeach.

Aviation has a long history of learning from accidents; the first recorded air accident investigation in the UK was carried out in 1912 involving a Flanders F4 Monoplane. The aircraft took off from Brooklands Aerodrome with the pilot and a passenger onboard, it flew two circuits of the aerodrome before the aircraft was seen to side-slip, stall and crash from an altitude of 200 feet. Both pilot and passenger were killed. The incident was investigated by the Public Safety and Accidents Investigation Committee of the Royal Aero Club who determined the cause to be pilot error.

To read the full article click on the pdf document below.

After Brexit there will be changes that affect businesses and hauliers across the UK.

Make sure you are prepared for them, particularly if your business:

• imports goods
• exports goods
• receives personal data
• exports services

Local business readiness events

The Department for Business held a series of free face-to-face Business Readiness Events across the UK, to help businesses find out what actions they need to take to prepare for Brexit. The events included support and advice stands, with in-depth sessions led by subject matter experts from across government, including Defra, HMRC, Home Office and DCMS.

More information could be found about a range of issues, including:

• the importing and exporting of goods and services
• transferring data
• employing EU citizens

The Brexit Business Readiness Events events have now ended but if you were unable to attend one, you can view our online event which features recordings of the sessions held at the events.

Helping hauliers prepare for Brexit

The Department for Transport is setting up information pop-up stands across the UK and Europe to help hauliers and businesses prepare for Brexit, so that goods can continue to flow smoothly through ports.

The pop-ups will be located at ports, service stations and on ferries to provide easily accessible advice, helping hauliers understand the documentation they need for themselves, their vehicles and their goods after Brexit.

All stands will be staffed by multilingual advisors.

Further advice for hauliers is available on GOV.UK.

Brexit preparedness workshops for businesses that export

Businesses will leave these workshops with a personalised action plan for Brexit preparedness. The workshops will provide advice on:

• impact to supply chains
• changes to regulations and contracts
• where to find tariff information
• what businesses might need to speak to customers and employees about

Find your nearest event and sign up: please note that locations are still being added.

HMRC webinars to help customers get ready for Brexit

HMRC is running Get Ready for Brexit webinars during October, which provide an overview of everything UK businesses involved in the movement of goods between the EU and the UK need to know to keep goods moving after 31 October.

Sign up for one of the webinars at Get Ready for Brexit.

For those unable to make any of the sessions, the webinar has been recorded on GOV.UK.

Making a Difference to Everyone

Here at BPDTS, we’re lucky enough to have colleagues who are happy to give something back and help where it’s needed, a true testament to our sense of community and the people we work with on a daily basis.

We’ve set up our MADE programme (Make a Difference to Everyone) to partner with some fabulous charities from around the UK. We’re committed to volunteering our time and helping to raise as much money as possible for them over the next 12 months.

How we’re doing this

We’ve set up a working group with representatives from across BPDTS Ltd to give advice and support on how our colleagues can support charities local to our Hub locations in Newcastle, Manchester, Blackpool, Leeds and Sheffield.

At BPDTS, colleagues are encouraged to take time out of the office to volunteer. Our MADE group helps coordinate activity to help people make best use of their volunteer days. We also run fundraising activities to help our chosen charities throughout the year – one charity is chosen by colleagues in each of our locations.

Essentially, we aim to make being part of BPDTS more than just about “the day job” as we try and make a difference to people in the areas around each hub.

Our enthusiastic volunteers are based in each location supporting these organisations:

• Newcastle Dog & Cat Shelter

• Trinity Hospice in Blackpool

• St Leonard’s Hospice in Leeds

• Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation trust

• The Christie in Manchester

Huge thanks to all our representatives: Judith Trotter, Louise Wilson-Lee, Rebecca Ganchi, Nicola Erskine Sephton, Muzaffar Ibrahim and David Johnson.

MADE in Manchester

I’m Jordan, the MADE representative here in the Manchester Hub. In Manchester we’re proud to have chosen The Christie as our charity of the year.

As part of our commitment, I got the chance to take a look around The Christie with their wonderful fundraising manager who told me all about the benefits of becoming a corporate partner.

The Christie is the largest single site cancer centre in Europe, treating more than 44,000 patients a year. Based in Manchester, they are the leading experts in cancer care, research and education and have been pioneering cancer research breakthroughs for over 100 years.

This work would not be possible without the generosity of others and neither would the lifesaving hope it provides to their patients and their families.

Why this matters

They have achieved so much since a group of philanthropists joined forces in 1890 with a vision for a centre of excellence for cancer care. Thanks to their dedicated staff and those who have believed in them since, they continue to remain at the forefront of cancer care and research. They’re dedicated to providing better outcomes to those affected by cancer, both now and in the future.

The Christie Charity supports the work of the Christie NHS Foundation Trust through its fundraising activities, and delivers projects, equipment and improvements in addition to those funded by the NHS. Without the commitment of their fantastic fundraisers, they would not be able to provide their patients and their families with the level of care and support that they deserve in such a desperate time.

The continued and unflagging passion, commitment and loyalty from their army of supporters allows them to go above and beyond for Christie’s patients, providing them with the very best treatment and care.

Final thoughts

For me, the fact that Manchester has chosen The Christie as its chosen charity is quite heart-warming. My auntie is being treated at The Christie for a rare type of lung cancer, so I know first-hand what fabulous work they are doing to help the lives of their patients and their families.

We’re looking forward to raising money for such a good cause, and with the help of BPDTS and the people that work here, I’m sure we can help make a massive difference to a truly deserving cause.

The Surveillance Camera Commissioner has launched Secure by Default – minimum requirements for manufacturers of surveillance camera systems and components.

It was driven by the need to ensure the UK’s resilience against cyber security vulnerability, as well as to provide the best possible assurance that cameras are manufactured to minimum cyber secure requirements. The minimum requirements are an important step forward for manufacturers, installers and users alike. Manufacturers self-certify their products as secure by default.

Secure by default is essential

S.A.F.E systems were the first organisation to be awarded the mark. Dave Lawrie, director, said:

Given the fact that our main focus is the provision, supply and installation of CCTV systems into licensed vehicles, secure by default is essential not only for driver and local authority confidence in our product and service, but for public confidence in the security of their data.

Easy application process

Manufacturers can demonstrate they meet the minimum requirements by completing a self-certification form and submitting it to the Commissioner’s office for validation. Dave said:

The application process was very straight forward, the majority of the questions asked were within our default design anyway so easy to answer, it was also very reassuring that any aspects which required further correspondence were not simply dismissed, but were actually followed up on to gain a greater understanding of our product. It was very professional.

Organisations who are successful in their application will be issued with a certificate and Secure by Default certification mark from the Commissioner and will have their products listed on the Commissioner’s website. Dave, said:

I would fully recommend that manufacturers apply for the Secure by Default mark – getting the recognition is important. We now have the Commissioner’s mark, Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 approval, CE approval, all of which are a vital tool for anyone in our field, in our professional opinion, any company which cannot achieve all of the above, should not be operating.

To find out more about the Secure by Default certification, how to apply and which organisations have been awarded the certification mark visit the Commissioner’s website.