In March 2011 the judges visited St Aloysius after the school had been nominated for the Northern Grid Overall Excellence Award. They were impressed by what they saw and especially by the work of Myris Groom the ICT Network Leader working across the whole school with Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1.
They said:
"At St Aloysius Infants, Hebburn, we met with network manager Myris Groom. Although Myris Groom is not a teacher she is a deeply impressive advocate for ICT and learning and is certainly worthy of an award in her own right.
It was clear that the success with ICT that was in evidence at St Aloysius was a result of her instinctive and conscious acceptance of the importance of ICT for learning, and her persistent and applied promotion of its importance.
We saw plenty of great uses of ICT across the school, particularly multimedia editing and animation and there has been a strong focus on e-safety.
Myris’s contribution is outstanding and worthy of recognition. She has not rested on her achievements and continues to bring new influences and stimulation – like LEGO for example – into the school via her productive relationship with the local CLC."
The school was the runner up in the Overall Category, Myris was also entered for the Teacher award and was recognised as an outstanding practitioner this case study explores some of the inspirational work that is happening at St Aloysius Infant School, South Tyneside.
More information about What Makes an Outstanding Teacher is available on Christine’s blog
ICT is used extensively across the school Myris works closely with the ICT coordinator and there are close links between the work that Myris does with pupils and the work they do with their class teachers. The school has a wide range of hardware including:
Metal detectors
Cameras
Remote control toys
Robots
Microphones
Roamer
Bee Bots
Easi Speaks
There is a focus on skills and they use appropriate software for training and assessment e.g. Smart Learning, 2Assess, Early Phonics, Education City and Espresso, these allow pupils to learn a progression of skills from clicking, drag and drop to keyboard skills.
ESafety is important and all pupils except those in Nursery are trained. The school uses Us Online and talks about a wide range of technologies including mobile phones. As well as talking about what they can and can’t do with technology they look at What To Do If. Parents are involved, they are very keen to help out in school and are all invited to attend meetings that highlight the fact that eSafety is not just about computers, other devices like Nintendo DS can pose risks as well. Pupils create videos showing what they’ve learnt and also use Hector’s World’s videos, discussion points and booklets.
The school took part in this year's Lego Challenge, the first Infant team to do so. Year 2 pupils visited Openzone to learn how to use and programme lego robots.
“When I went to the open zone to learn how to control Lego Education, I built a Lego crocodile. When I saw the crocodile move I felt amazed and excited. I HAVE NEVER USED THIS Lego before and I think it's BRILLIANT fun.”
James, pupil.
Each year the challenge is linked to a real world issue and this year the pupils had to investigate prosthetic arms. The pupils at St Aloysius linked their research to the real world by finding out about the dangers of fireworks.
They interviewed Mr Pennick, the man in charge at Nissan, to find out lots of interesting things about how they use robotic arms to make cars at the Nissan Car Factory.
They used the Internet and youTube to research robotic hands. Then they planned their robot.
They called their team TechnoTweenies and had to present the work they had done, this involved lots of communication skills some making use of technology. Hear about the pupils' experiences in the Crazy Talk videos below.
This project was such a success they will be entering more teams in future.
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Other activities include:
"this is where life starts, it’s the time to start developing life skills, confidence, expectations, independence, creativity, excitement and team work, it’s the best job!"
Myris is keen to make projects fun and exciting and video is used to record achievements and share them with parents. It is important to note Myris does not work in isolation; the staff is enthusiastic and wants to do new things. All of this activity is in addition to Myris being responsible for the technical side of ICT. It takes up a lot of time both in and out of school, Myris is always researching and looking at how to adapt activities for the young pupils. Keeping up to date with changing technology, applications and the changes in the curriculum is a challenge. Her enthusiasm is evident she is well aware of the importance of working with Early Years and Key Stage 1
Looking ahead
The schools is looking at how to extend the work they’ve done on animations and publishing them on an updated website. They want to explore how they can use video in different ways e.g. A Day at St Aloysius to be shared with new parents and pupils. The school also wants to develop the use of Video Conferencing. Myris is planning to take the pupils to the Apple Store to use the latest technology.
Top Tips
“Don’t underestimate the children because of their age.”
“Encourage trial and error, let them try, let them play and explore.”
“If they can do it why hold them back.”
Stop Motion Animation
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"At St Aloysius Infants, Hebburn, we met with network manager Myris Groom. Although Myris Groom is not a teacher she is a deeply impressive advocate for ICT and learning and is certainly worthy of an award in her own right.
