Ofsted

The below was a live blog I did, while leading teachers were browsing through the recent OFSTED in schools report.

Since September 2005 Ofsted has selected a total sample of 60 primary and 60 secondary schools for the annual ICT subject survey. Primary schools were visited for one day ...

You can read the report yourself by clicking here and downloading the handy and readable PDF

What is going well?

• Lots of resources in schools



• Cross curricular ICT is being used



• ICT used to raise confidence



• Impact on EAL



• iMprovments in Foundation and Key Stage 1- we think this is because therei smore stuff

What needs to be worked on

• Training of teachers and LSAS



• Consistent planning for ICT across the curriculum



• Inconsistency in quality of teaching



• Key Stage 2 challenge for more able



• Assessment

What resonates?

Training for staff- there is an issue of time here though- which is why we get the explore lesson - where teachers are learning the software while teaching!!!

Frustrations around people who don't use existing resources

SMT are key for setting high expectations

If teachers have to feedback and are given gap tasks- then the accountability means people are pressured to share.(And often will share)

Quality of leadership- schools need a joint vision

Individuals can not move things on- you need heads involved- more than just going to a meeting!

Resources

We feel like we have enough- certainly enough software- we now need to use what we have got well

Podcasting and Blogging

How are people doing this?

Is it in a club or curriculum focused?

Year 1 could blogs- if they are using Honeycomb

Cross curricular!!!!?!?!

Most of the points in the Ofsted report are about more than just discrete ICT

Mentions inclusive vision and developments- gives us permission to innovate- they want to see some vision and being forward thinking......taking risks

Why are you doing it?

Report mentions using ICT to rasie standards!!

"You have got to have the opportunity to fail"- NCSL guy siad this @ BETT lesson form Harvard business school- the DS project might fail.

Don't stretch the child to fit the curriculum- stretch the curriculum to fit the child.

Podcasting an excellent context

This year the Guardian newspaper are running their Newsday competition. The journalistic simulation day could involve the creation of either a website, a newspaper or a Podcast. Schools must register and use any day between the 28 Jan-1 Feb and 10-14 March, further details, including a very detailed support pack can be found on the Newsday website.

The event is sponsored by Podium and will therefore mean that anyone taking part can get themselves a free 30 day download of the software (or a hard copy if they prefer).
Visit Podium for more details.

Technicians Conference

This just in from Brain @ the LGFL

An excellent opportunity for some much needed input and CPD for your technician/Network manager:

London ICT Technicians Update Conference 2007 - 17th March 2008

Following the success of the London ICT Technicians Conference held in March of this year, the London ICT Technicians Update Conference 2008 will be held at the BT Centre, 81 Newgate Street, EC1A 7AJ on Monday 17th March 2008.

The last conference was highly oversubscribed, so in order to offer this opportunity to as many technical colleagues as possible we will be running this conference twice, using the morning and afternoon slots. A light buffet lunch will be available.

As with previous conferences, we will be focussing on short information and update sessions rather than the more traditional, longer presentations. Some of the items that will be covered are listed below. A full agenda of the day will be available prior to the event.

Sophos update
e-Safety – technical solutions
MLE update
Equipment security

This event always has a programme packed with valuable information for school technicians and relevant LA support staff and has been very well received by those who have attended in the past. Please draw this information to the attention of relevant schools’ personnel and encourage them to book early. Thank you.

Details and sign up information can be found at www.events.lgfl.net

Activ Primary 3

Many schools with Activ Primary are upgrading to version 3.The enhanced features and the ease of use makes this well worth the upgrade. The two key things which standout for me are the flip chart builder and the resources packs.

The flipcahrt builder make creating flipcharts a lot easier and manageable than in previous versions, an there are also some very good templates that are just waiting to be filled with text or images. Images, videos and backgrounds can be added to by downloading and integrating Resource Packs from Promethean planet

Adam @ South Park has complied a very helpful guide for new users of Activ Primary 3 and is particularly suitable for those who have been used to Activ PX. It can be downloaded here or from the box.net side bar.

Other useful links for Activ Primary 3
Useful Top Tips Booklet as complied by users available upon membership of the forum
Top Tips videos from Promethean
Other Training videos from Atomic Learning

Downloading Youtube Videos

At our last Subject Leaders event, we looked at downloading Youtube videos using zamzar. I have found a helpful video (on YouTube of course) . I hope you find this helpful: