People Say
Please find below a selection of school support mini case studies. To download these as a PDF click here.
Supporting the new ICT Co-ordinator
Kate suddenly became ICT Co-ordinator as a result of staffing issues at her school. As Science Co-ordinator, she is an enthusiastic user of ICT, but was understandably not familiar with the ICT curriculum and schemes of work at Key Stages 2 and 3. The key objective was to support Kate in developing her ICT subject knowledge, planning and assessment. A year’s programme was set up to give Kate ICT consultancy support each half term. This followed a cycle of planning the next units of work together, software and hardware skills training where needed, classroom support, assessing pupils’ work, and review. One term later, Kate is becoming increasingly confident about her subject knowledge, about assessing pupils’ work accurately, and understanding national curriculum requirements.
Embedding ICT in the Primary Art Curriculum
The process of embedding ICT across the curriculum in the school highlighted that
ICT was not being effectively used, with consistency, across the year groups. Jeff, the
ICT Co-ordinator, was eager to share with staff some of the ways in which ICT can
help pupils to develop their creativity and imagination. He asked the consultant to run
an afternoon session for the whole staff on the next closure day. There were two key
objectives; first, to identify and share with staff opportunities for using ICT in the QCA
Scheme of Work for Art at Key Stages 1 and 2; and, second, to train staff to use the
school’s art software and related hardware. At the end of the session, teachers had
explored, and reflected on, some of the possibilities of using ICT, and each planned
one art activity incorporating ICT for the following term as a first next step.
Interactive Whiteboard Support
Jackie was excited at the prospect of having whiteboards in every classroom. Only one
class (in Year 1) was now without. All staff had received basic skills training when the
bulk of the whiteboards were initially installed. However, although some teachers were
enthusiastically making good use of the whiteboards and a range of resources, Jackie
recognised that others were less confident. She contacted the consultant who suggested
a twilight training session for all teachers, with the key objective of developing confidence
in staff, and sharing good practice. The session began with a review of basic skills, a
demonstration of useful resources to support different curriculum areas, a hands-on
workshop and finally a sharing of ideas.
The more confident users were able to share ideas with those less confident, and also
build on their existing materials.