Tuesday 30 August 2016

Individuals - register to use our resources

Just £15 for a year, or £20 for 2 years. Great value if you are studying the GCSE Astronomy course.  Our www.starlearner.com website offers -

timetables
the full GCSE Astronomy e-textbook
            (as recommended on the examination board website)
guides for practical work to download
practice calculations - with worked answers
monthly guides for viewing the night sky
viewing guides to help see meteor showers, planets, comets...
topics on a wide range of subjects including the death of the dinosaurs to famous astronomers

and much more...

All our resources are updated regularly, so you are using the very latest information.

Drop us an email and we will help you to get started straight away.

New lower price - School registration

The annual registration for schools is now £75.  The school registration allows ALL staff and ALL students access to the www.starlearner.com website whilst at school and from home.  Schools who want to help just a few students with their Astronomy can get each student to register as individuals - see our separate post for individuals.  We have the full GCSE Astronomy e-textbook (recommended on the Edexcel website), a full BTEC Astronomy e-textbook and other support work including a range of topics for Astronomy -

Dinosaurs - Death by Meteorite
Exoplanets and Extraterrestrial Life
Impacts in the Solar System
Telescopes...
                                                        and plenty more -

Monthly night sky guides
Timetables for the GCSE Astronomy course
Practice calculation questions (with worked answers for teachers)
Skylab - our practical centre with experiments to download
Viewing guides to see meteor showers, planets, comets, eclipses...

We are also available to answer any queries from staff as part of our work.  David is a moderator for the GCSE Astronomy course.  Also, David has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and regularly runs teacher training courses in Astronomy/Astrophysics. 


For a school registration, we would just need the Astronomy teacher to provide the following:-


Your name and preferred email contact address

Full school name, address and telephone contact number
A User Name and Password for your login



On receipt of these details, we issue an invoice (which we ask to be paid within 28 days) and set up access to the www.starlearner.com website for you straight away - so you can get your course up and running immediately - you do not have to wait for the finance department to make the payment.


We look forward to assisting you with your Astronomy.




Newly designed website on the way

A fresh new look to the starlearner.com website is on the way.  This will link well with the new way we are offering our work to both schools and individuals.  Check out our posts for the lower prices - offering even better value for money.  Also, we are currently preparing the e-textbook for the next syllabus for the redesigned GCSE Astronomy course - due to begin in September 2017 and be first examined in summer 2019.  Our e-textbook will be available online from the day Edexcel launch the new syllabus.  We will keep you posted.

Monday 14 March 2016

Starlearner @ The Norman Lockyer Observatory

A good day on Saturday at the Norman Lockyer Observatory, Sidmouth - 
Meeting up with Starlearners as they wrote up their controlled assessments.
Well done to Theo, Africa and Rosanna for your efforts and Kathleen for your support -
Good to meet up with Radio Astronomers, Chris (seen in the 'office'), Ian and Clive.  
An impressive show of the meteor spotting that is carried out at the Observatory -

Tuesday 8 March 2016

Northern Lights success!

Our cruise, as Guest Speaker, on board Magellan - Land of the Northern Lights was very successful.  The Northern Lights performed.  It was such a privilege to be asked by Cruise and Maritime Voyages to give talks on Astronomy and meet so many wonderful people.  Thank you to Cruise Director Jon and the team.  Jon's enthusiasm for seeing the Northern Lights was fantastic and he maintained his 100% success rate of seeing them on Cruise and Maritime Voyages!  Great fun!

Christina, who ran brilliant craft sessions with Isabel, made us laugh with her email to us today:-
Well they say you never appreciate what is on your doorstep and last night I found that to be true.
My Son came in at 10:45 last night and asked if I’d looked out of the window...Now who looks out of the window on a cold night at that time I ask you?...Ooops sorry...You do David! He proceeded to open the curtains to show me a faint green tinge to the sky...Come on Mam get your coat on we are going to the beach! Well I was wrapped up with more clothes than I wore in the Arctic Circle and off we went in the car half a mile to the local beach and there in the blackness of the sky was an amazing display of the Aurora Borealis. Colours from green to purple, pink and blue but unfortunately by the time we got the cameras (my cheap one and my Son’s hugely more expensive one) set up most of the colours had diminished.




The shooting star in the last one just is amazing!  Well done Christina.  One of the brilliant advantages of living in Northumberland.  

Tuesday 17 November 2015

Michael makes it 3 years in a row!

Michael Culver has achieved a Top 12 in the country A* grade for his GCSE Astronomy this year. This makes it 3 years in a row (and 5 awards in 5 years) for Starlearner. Many congratulations to Michael for his hard work - this is a terrific achievement. Thank you to Malc Beesley and the team at Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School who made this possible by allowing Starlearners to enter with their candidates. (This is the second Top 12 award in the 3 years that have come via Holmes Chapel)! Michael is seen with his Royal Astronomical Society certificate alongside his GCSE certificate.
Starlearner has had some other remarkable results this year. Our youngest ever entry, Xiaoli Biggs, (just 10 years and 3 months at examination day) gained an amazing A grade.  The Bowers family entered their 3 children Xende, Maeloc and Caleac - they came over to The Trinity School in Nottingham from home in Sant Pere de Ribes, near Barcelona. Three good passes. Well done!  Thank you to Jill at Trinity for all your support with the entries. Congratulations are also due to Clay Smith at Hadley Learning Community in Telford on a fantastic reward for overcoming all the hurdles along the way. A brilliant performance and what a learning support team you have had at Hadley!

Tuesday 29 September 2015

Star Learners doing wonderful things!

Martyn Dolton is a Star Learner!  Official. He gained a grade A in this summer's GCSE Astronomy examination. Here's what he has said about our course:-

"I’m sure you’ve seen the results, but I just wanted to say how pleased I am at getting an A overall and to thank you for all of your help and support over the past year. When I consider what a challenging year I faced, it’s quite an achievement! For me, this was an opportunity to study something that I’ve always been passionate about, but I wasn’t able to do at school, and getting a qualification at the end of it was a bonus, so I thank you and Liz for making it possible. It’s amazing at how many people I now find myself explaining things to and see them get quite excited about it all – only the other day a friend sent me a picture on Facebook asking me to identify the ‘really bright star next to the moon’. When I told him it was in fact a planet – Venus – and not a star, he was gobsmacked, and keeps asking me questions, which is great! This course has really helped me find out and understand more about something I’ve been interested in since I can remember, and I’m sure it will continue. Here’s to the Lunar Eclipse at the end of the month and for clear skies!"

And look what Martyn has sent through. Brilliant!

"I attach a montage of my pictures. It was great to watch the eclipse, especially after the extra knowledge gained from the course. I kept looking and seeing all the different features going into the shadow. I particularly remember saying 'there goes Tycho'. Before the course it would have been 'there goes that round bit on the bottom!'



This has really opened up the door for me to learn, so once again, thank you!"