Subject Leaders Follow Up , Survey Again,

Welcome to another Primary ICT Update



Display in the ICT Suite @ Goodmayes Primary

In this issue we update those of you who missed Subject Leaders last week. Thanks to all of you who were able to come along, we had a record number of 42, which is very positive, but it does mean we need to think about a better location next time. Do you have any thoughts on that if so let me know.Could you also make sure that anyone who is coming to an event like this does register, it does allow us to plan for both refreshments an venue if we know exact numbers beforehand.

During the day we had three sessions on:

Updates on borough ICT

An Introduction to the London MLE

Moving Beyond Engagement with ICT and Literacy- here we used the required reading from last week, available here.

We were able to video the Updates session and the slides are embedded below. They are presented as a top ten, though they follow no particular order and are all important. I have summarised each of the points below, but if you do have any queries, then please email any of us and we will get back to you.

Updates

View more presentations from Anthony Evans.

10 - We are now using Facebook as yet another quick and 'always on' tool for delivering news, links, pictures and updates. This is due to the recent changes in Facebook, which make it easier for an organisation to be a presence online. - Join us by becoming a fan

9 - Film Competition - There is still time to enter and for those of you who are confused the prizes are awarded for best in category and a prize for the best film overall.

Remember the four themes are:

Making a Difference Look through my Eyes

A brave new World Inspiration

Each film needs to be up to four minutes long and we will award prizes to teams of four children. There can only be one entry per Key Stage and we will only award a prize to the four pupils that created the film. The best film overall will not only mean a trip to the BBC for each pupil, but also a Flip Mino camera for every participant.

The number of schools that have currently registered to take part in the competition is 23. Visit the website for more details.

8 Visualisers and Mac Books for sale. We have around 10 mini visualisers and a trolley of 16 Macs for sale. The price for each unit is £400. Email Gary if you are interested. We are also keen that a school takes on the set of Asus devices that have been in Fairlop and we'd be really pleased if a school used these as part of a one laptop per child scheme. Email Alex or Anthony if interested.

We are not purchasing equipment for Innovation projects this year rather we are inviting schools to bid for up to £1500 to run their own innovation project. The project will need to demonstrate sharable and innovative pedagogy with technology and should demonstrate impact. We have a bid form within the resources area of Fronter for the Subject Leaders event on the 12th of March or click here. Please note any school wishing to take part in the project needs to be at least the commitment stage of the Self Review Framework - see below


7 Next Generation Learning - we are encouraging all schools to sign up to the Self Review Framework. This is an excellent tool for evaluating all areas of ICT within your school. There are eight elements to examine, including CPD, Teaching and Learning, Resources, Assessment etc. It is worth noting that parents are being made aware of Next Generation Learning through media campaigns on Radio and in both Tabloids and broadsheets. On the Next Generation Learning site, a parent can debunk terms like Interactive Whiteboard and MLE, while there is also the opportunity to search for ICT Marked schools within their local area.

Visit the Next Generation Learning Website

Begin the Self Review Framework

See a Youtube video on the launch of Next Generation Learning

6 Durrants Den

Another chance to bid for Money for a project. You will need to convince the CEO of the London Grid for learning and other formidable figures that their money will be well spent. See http://cms.lgfl.net/web/lgfl/projects/durrantsden for more details.

5. Support - we have been very happy with the support we pay for from Mina Patel from the LGFL. She has worked with schools on Video Conferencing projects, curriculum projects and VLE /MLE support. She has worked very hard on these areas across the school year and we have now run out of her allocated sessions for 2008/9. She will be available again from September 2009.

We are keen to make sure that we make the best possible use of her limited time and that as many schools as possible are able to benefit from her support. Therefore we are asking that all schools that require support from Mina, do not make their own arrangements with her, but rather request the support from us in the first instance. We'd ask you to email your requests to Tina.Pennells@redbridge.gov.uk for Autumn Term 09 in order for us to begin to put together a work plan. We appreciate your cooperation with this and look forward to Mina supporting all our work throughout the coming year.

If you require primary AST support from Nicholas Hughes, then please email Sue.Gyde for a request form.

Video of the updates session - please note its a bit shaky at first and as ever it is probably better viewed on a faster connection

4 Teachmeet North East London happens on the 31st of March @ 6pm. This is an evening of free CPD from Primary and secondary practitioners from all over the UK. You'd be silly to miss it.
Visit the site to learn more, do sign up quickly as space is limited, if you have any problems signing up, then email me and I'll do it for you.

3 Staff Mail - Next August the LGFL email accounts hosted by Digital Brain will be discontinued. In their place will be something called Staff Mail, part of a bigger initiative called London Mail, which also includes pupil 'Safe Mail' accounts. We are encouraging all schools to use Staff Mail, which looks very much like Outlook as their main means of email communication for school use. This is a safe and free system and aevans.317@lgflmail.org looks much more professional than crazydog73@hotmail.com . Schools are already beginning to migrate onto this service by completing a spreadsheet of staff members and emailing this to Gary.

2 Up and coming ICT Courses -

Using the Whiteboard Effectively- Numeracy 23rd April 2009 - please note this will use SMART and Activ Primary and is hosted by Liz Gibbs, one of the founder members of the National Whiteboard Network, who also co-wrote 'Keys to Learning'. Liz also works for BEAM education. Strictly speaking this is not a beginners course.

Reading and creating a film in a primary school 22nd April 2009 -hosted by Literacy ASTs, Nicholas and Anthony. Please bring your Flip Camera!!


1 The final Update was to say that all resources for ICT Courses and Subject Leaders meeting will now be housed within our growing MLE/ Fronter Room. www.fronter.com/redbridge

Each school that attended last week was given a card with their user name and password to help them login, pleas not these are identical, and any school with login difficulties should email me. The login is for the school to use and we will not be issuing individual accounts for staff or pupils, unless of course your school chooses to buy into Fronter.

Finally a reminder to all schools that we are currently planning courses and support and therefore really need your views. Thank you to the following schools, who have taken our survey.

Oakdale Junior School, Wells, Woodlands Junior School, John Bramston, South Park Primary School, Grove Primary School, Fairlop Primary, St Bede's, Nightingale Primary, Barley Lane,
Mossford Green Primary School, Aldersbrook Primary, Churchfields Junior, Snaresbrook Primary School, Churchfields Infants, Woodlands Infant School ,Redbridge Primary School
Cleveland jnr,Newbury Park Primary School, Ilford Jewish Primary and Farnham Green Primary

I really need the rest of you to fill in the form below with feedback on our service. Thank you

CPD Survey

It's that time again, when Maths, Literacy and ICT teams put together their support and CPD plans. in order to do this we need honest feedback from all our schools. Please take two minutes to fill in the form below. Headteachers, ICT coordinators or anyone involved in Primary ICT in school can complete the survey.