I.C.T.

"Achieving our best together"

Vision Statement We are all living in a world where technology is developing at an ever increasing pace. Our pupils need to be able to access this world, to learn skills that we can as yet perhaps only imagine. To take part in such a world they will need to be life long learners, needing the confidence and ability to develop new skills and understanding. They need the opportunity to become conversant with current technologies and to be able to adapt their skills and learning styles to accommodate change. They need to be able to use technology to present information, undertake research and communicate and interact with the world around them in a creative way. We envisage a future for our pupils in which they are able to access their work, projects and support seamlessly from any number of locations connected by the world wide web. The learning environment in the school should contribute towards the development of these skills and support then by providing access to current educational technologies. Our vision statement has been agreed by all staff, governors and the school council. It is reviewed and amended as necessary to meet the current needs of our pupils and to reflect developing technology. Scheme for ICT Our scheme for ICT  is based on five strands: ·       Communicating Information  ·       Control ·       Handling Information ·       Modelling ·       Research and Acceptable Use Communicating Information This is all about being able to use text, multimedia and images.  Control This extends from exploring simple controllable toys and software to creating a sequence of instructions to control events and output devices (e.g. bulb, buzzer) including the use of feedback from input devices (e.g. switch, sensor). Handling Information Children learn from how to sort objects by looking at similarities and differences through to being able to generate, process, interpret, store and present data in various forms. They learn to understand the need for accuracy. Modelling This begins with children exploring simple ICT programs and equipment and leads to them being able to add to and amend a given ICT model to solve a problem through a review of the rules and variables. Research and Acceptable Use Research is basically teaching children about how to find things out. The youngest pupils explore ICT based resources while their older schoolmates learn to interpret their findings, check their plausibility and recognise that poor quality information leads to unreliable results. Acceptable Use is all about teaching children to know how to stay safe when using the internet. They are taught how to use technology and given web sites safely and know what to do if they encounter a problem. At their own level pupils learn how to critically evaluate the use of a wide range of technology (at different stages these include use of web sites, e-mail, social networking sites, online gaming, mobile phones, file sharing), be able to describe the dangers and how they can keep themselves and their friends safe from these.  To help monitor pupil progress we use a year based ‘ICT Skills Record’ copies of which can be accessed from the ICT section of the school website.