In June of this year Normanby Primary School, in Redcar and Cleveland LA, received the Northern Grid for Learning’s prestigious “Overall Excellence’ award - and this week the school was once again celebrating at the Handheld Learning conference at the Barbican Centre in London.

The Y Factor

On Monday afternoon Normanby learners participated in the Y Factor competition. The Learners Y Factor is ‘an opportunity to showcase the innovation and ingenuity being demonstrated amongst young learners using mobile, gaming, social media or other popular technologies in their learning’. There was great excitement and lots of smiles when the judges announced that Normanby pupils were the winners and had been chosen to present to the conference delegates on the Wednesday afternoon.

There are two awards in the Primary category; Practitioner and Innovation. Normanby won them both! Carl Faulkner, headteacher was awarded Primary Practitioner of the year and the school also won the Innovation award for their outstanding PDAs to Support Learning Initiative - beating schools as far afield as Australia!

These awards are a fantastic achievement and reflect the hard work and commitment of all the teachers and learners at Normanby and also Andrew Stogdale of Redcar and Cleveland LA who provided ongoing support for the school throughout the life of the projects.

More details about Normanby's projects can be found here.

Congratulations to Normanby Primary School on winning the Overall Excellence in ICT Award 2009!

Judge's Report

Mr Faulkner was appointed 14 months ago (his second headship) and began a whole school initiative to improve ICT, involving children, staff, governors and parents.

They have a pictorial representation of the School Improvement Plan up in the hall – and add photos to it each fortnight to demonstrate and record progress.

ICT is having a positive impact on all aspects of teaching and learning across the school.

In teaching, Mr Faulkner first focused on the provision of tools – he renewed all PCs in school (when he took over only 12 were working across the school). He has embedded the VLE.

He has made handheld learning a focus in Yrs 4 & 5 - the idea is that those children will keep their devices into Yr 6, and each year, Year 4 will be given/subscribe to a device. “It is already having a massive impact”. This was the lowest attaining group in the school – but he took 6 children down to the Handheld Learning conference in London and they quizzed the salespeople about the best devices and collectively opted for the HTC Touch Smartphone.

(One of the judges commented; ‘I have extensive experience of handheld devices and trials – this is the first time I have come across a school including children in the choice of device’).

The handheld devices have improved problem solving/drafting and re-writing/ and children are more willing to learn at home. They have also improved pupils’ confidence and self reliance in other not – directly related areas. They have significantly improved parental engagement.

Every governors meeting now starts with a presentation by children. ICT is building confidence across the school, including boosting staff confidence to experiment.

Foundation children are using the Nintendo Wii. Reception children are using walkie-talkies and developing communication & speaking/listening skills. Year 4 are using the Nintendo DS game Spore as a collaborative, team exercise where the children have to nurture and evolve the creature. The children are blogging on the VLE to let each other know what strategies they are using in the game.

The school has e-safety training and an acceptable use policy. The platform is being embedded – one feature mentioned was an email account: worries@normanby where any children can email any concerns. Other features on the VLE: governors page/celebrating moments/video clips & podcasts/ video promoting attendance.

They use the CLC and learned about the Comic Life programme on a visit there. Yr 5 have been commissioned by the tourist board to promote Redcar. They are working with local history experts to produce an interactive trail related to local Ironstone mining and using Geocaching and GPS technology. Year 5s are also working on the ICT diploma run by Roehampton University – 65 out of 68 passed with no help from staff. Don Passey of Roehampton is now evaluating the handheld project at Normanby.

All staff have an ICT target in their performance targets. Embedding is tackled through creating “hooks for learning” rather than being purely subject-based. ICT is no longer a subject – its included in topics.

They are trying to develop parents’ ICT skills, as in many cases, they have been overtaken by their children. We were introduced to a parent, Mrs Sellars, whose daughter is in year 4, and is part of the handheld project. Mrs Sellars was concerned about the cost, and also worried that pencil and paper would take a back seat, but she has found the device works alongside traditional methods. She now feels more involved in her daughter’s education and has used the device herself.

Packages being used in school:

• 2Simple
• Espresso
• Beebot
• Sums Online (“skill & drill – but has its place”)
• RM CC3 programmes
• Lego
• Lowry software (very impressive!)

Summary

A most impressive submission. Not only is ICT well embedded, as evidenced by school displays and brief lesson observations it is being used in entirely innovative ways, but very closely allied to teaching and learning outcomes. Mr Faulkner has wrought incredible change in a short time, and has a very clear vision for where Normanby is headed. This school clearly demonstrates Excellence in ICT and is therefore our recommended choice for the winner of the title.