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Cockerton Primary School, Darlington
Cockerton Primary School was Highly Commended in the Overall Excellence Category of the Northern Grid Awards 2010. This case study describes their journey from a school with little ICT equipment and very little enthusiasm for ICT to one where ICT is embedded across the whole school. There were challenges along the way and more to come but the dedication of head teacher Chris Metcalfe and the school staff ensures that they find solutions. In the case study they share these solutions and advice for other schools.
You can view the Case Study below or download it as a PDF.
Highly Commended: Northern Grid Overall Excellence Award 2010
A new school site where ICT has been planned in from the outset, with strategic advice from the LA. Excellent whole-school IT access is allowing the rapid development of creative use of ICT in all subjects, especially science and the arts. The Year 6 production of Wizard of Oz featured digital video shot at a local farm for the Kansas scenes, projected into the performance and blended with live acting – a truly innovative use of ICT executed largely by the children themselves. On our visit, we saw Year 4 children planning their own video-based dramas, inspired by an explorer book they had been studying. This is typical of a school where a child-centred approach leads to children suggesting and exploring their own topics, using ICT as and when it is appropriate and suitable to individual learning styles. Parental engagement through ICT is already strong and developing well through the use of the learning platform. The judges were impressed by meeting a parent who was able to describe in detail how the family are well informed about their child’s process through active participation facilitated by the platform.
This is how the judges of the Northern Grid ICT in Excellence Awards described Cockerton Primary School. The school was nominated for the award by Darlington Local Authority who recognised the school’s achievements and believed that their success should be shared more widely. In order to be shortlisted Cockerton had to demonstrate that ICT has a positive impact on all aspects of school life.
Background
Prior to 2005, the school was in a crumbling building, with little ICT equipment and very little enthusiasm for ICT. This was due to the poor state of equipment and issues surrounding use of the building. The school recognised the importance of ICT and began a journey that has been supported by the building of a brand new, eco-friendly building. ICT is now embedded across the school.
Challenges
The transition was not always easy:
- In the early days staff were overwhelmed by the amount of opportunities for using technology
- There was initial resistance from some members of staff; some were unfamiliar with the technology, others encountered technical problems
- In the early days the school admits that some of their activities focussed on showcasing the technology rather than the teaching and learning opportunities it supported.
What did they achieve?
Pupils are at the centre of the creative curriculum which builds on the approach in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Their approach is more than just another scheme of work; the curriculum is responsive to current issues and the pupils’ needs and interests. The aim is to make the real world meaningful so the focus is on relevant, real activity.
Throughout the whole building, wireless infrastructure supports learning and teaching with a class-set of laptops and online resources, such as Espresso used throughout the day and across all age-ranges. The network is due to be upgraded to ensure wireless connection is available throughout the school grounds, too, so that the pupils may choose to use ICT to support their learning whether they are reading a play in the amphitheatre, studying nature around the pond, or just reading in a corner at lunchtime.
The school recognises the importance of pupils’ experiences of technology outside of school and sees the value of making use of these to support work within the classroom. They use mobile phone apps to support teaching and learning and, supported by the LA, are trailing iPods. Games are used extensively by pupils at home and Wiis and Play Stations are being used in year 4 and 6. Their use is targeted at identified needs e.g. maths.
They are unconcerned about suggestions that pupils use games in isolation or for long periods of time. This isn’t the experience of the head teacher who knows that even at home most gaming is done as a family activity, in school it is a very social experience. As well as learning by playing games they are now working with pupils to develop games of their own.
At the request of the school the whole of KS2 has been taught eSafety by the local authority, this has supported the increasing confidence which the pupils display in using technologies. The information was quickly disseminated to parents using the learning platform.
Administration is underpinned by the learning platform which is used to share planning, records of achievement and portfolios and supports the staff in the everyday working of the school. Funding for the platform is no longer available so plans to extend its use are on hold while they explore alternatives. A likely solution is Google Apps. The school has set up test pages and found this very easy to use, it means they will be able to do everything they could do with the Learning Platform and it’s sustainable.
The school web site has been designed with simplicity of use at the forefront – there are links to the relevant external sites, such as school profile, Ofsted and there is a link to the learning platform on the home page. The school also tweets to keep parents informed of changes; particularly useful for communication in the recent poor weather!
There is access to resources including My Maths and Espresso outside of school. This provides a very visual reinforcement of work done in school. This increases parental engagement as pupils and parents can work together on tailored activities. Sessions in school have supported parents to use the resources effectively.
They school shares their expertise with others. They recently gained Ambassador Status from Espresso, and the local authority is planning to use practical, school-time visits to the school as leading examples of best practice for other authority schools. The ICT co-ordinator has also presented their story to an ICT co-ordinators termly meeting.
Solutions
Their journey has been enhanced by working with key people both inside and outside the school. Cockerton has worked closely with Creative Partnerships and the LA and their support has invaluable. Within the school they benefit from a strong senior leadership team and the school has appointed a number of staff with expertise and enthusiasm. These people have shared their support and knowledge and ensured that ICT has become embedded across the whole school. This has happened to such an extent that when the current ICT leader, who has been pivotal in establishing ICT across the school, leaves there will be no impact on the school.
Some staff members were reluctant to use technology at first but by focusing on the success stories and sharing positive experiences the staff were made aware of the benefits. This meant they recognized the value of spending time and effort on learning to use ICT. All members of staff are now confident users and this has resulted in technology taking a back seat, the focus is now firmly on teaching and learning and the needs of the pupils. There is a strong ethos of using ICT. Staff and pupils are appreciative of the excellent provision within the school and drive the demand for new technology and activities.
The school has benefited from having very supportive parents. The potential problem of lack of access to technology and the internet has not emerged as the few pupils that don’t have access at home have easy access to libraries.
What next?
The head teacher is keen to continue and develop the current practice but there is an issue with sustainability. A significant reduction in capital spending will have a major impact. One way the school will address this is to focus on output specifications, what it is they want the technology to do. They can then look for the best solution to meet this need avoiding a too narrow focus on specific hardware or software. Using open source software will save money.
eSafety work will be followed up regularly with parents, staff and pupils through workshops and publications. While they felt that it was important to be strict at the beginning they will be able to take a more relaxed approach once users understand how to use technology safely and policies and practices are in place.
The school is excited by the potential benefits of online reporting. They know of great products to support this but it could be a costly on-going commitment and funds are not available for purchasing them yet. However, some systems are in place using cheaper alternatives. A lot of data is already available and Excel is used to record, analyse and present data. The school can already check to see if attainment is in line with expectations and identify any potential issues. Parents are very positive and value the information about their children.
Advice for other schools
- There are no excuses for not using technology. Cockerton started its journey in an old crumbling building with significant obstacles for installing equipment but...
- ...be creative- there is always a work around.
- Listen to others, look outside of the school for support and advice. If you only look at yourselves you will only see what you’ve already been doing, approaches elsewhere can be tailored for your school.
- Start small and build up, those not involved at the beginning will see the benefits and be motivated to engage
- Teaching and learning is the most important thing just as pupils see technology as part of the everyday life at home ICT is there all the time in school to be used when appropriate. It is not something special to be done now and then.
The Northern Grid Award
The benefits the school has had from being recognised by Northern Grid include:
- An opportunity to celebrate with parents and the wider community
- A chance to recognise their achievements, ICT is seen as a day to day activity and they don’t always appreciate the high standard of what they do
- Good PR
- Pupils especially enjoyed the day at the award ceremony
- The school’s standing within the LA has improved
- They are able to support other schools
- The school gains credibility
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Labels: Guidance, ICT, Teachers, Innovation, Case Studies, Case Study - School-based Innovations and Projects