Update - SRF, Fronter. Rylands @ Oakdale Junior Smart Latest

Welcome to the latest update from Redbridge Primary ICT

Two pictures from my travels/training last week. The cakes were made by the cooking club at Redbridge Primary, though sadly I never got to eat any!


The writing was done by a new arrival in Mossford Green Primary, using Clicker 5 and with a very enthusiastic TA supporting him.

In this issue:

• Priorities
  
• Are you committed?
  
• Tim Rylands @ Oakdale Juniors
  
• SMART Notebook Update
  
• Fronter Latest
  

Priorities

We recently offered all of you to comment on our service and CPD through our survey. Thank you if you took part. We had a very good response, and we have used the data to plan CPD over the coming year and help us with our overall vision. One interesting response was around priorities. The graph below shows what ICT Coordinators feel are their current priorities.What are you driving forward in the next year and how are you measuring success?

It is easy to get sidetracked and caught up in the whizzy stuff with ICT, but there also needs to be a whole school focus on areas such as self review and organising the curriculum. I am pleased that our survey reflected this view.

Are you Committed?

The government is encouraging parents to ask about ICT in our schools and is placing adverts in tabloid and broadsheet newspapers, alongside quality radios stations like Heart 106. The question is asked, is your child's school geared up for 21st Century Learning? Parents can sign up for text and email alerts on this issue and visit the very helpful Next Generation website. This excellent site is aimed at debunking the technology used by teachers and pupils in our schools. I would recommend linking to this on your school site as a way of increasing parental engagement. But how do you prove your school is committed to helping pupils prepare for living and working in the 21st Century? Quite simply schools that self evaluate all aspects of their ICT against a set of nationally recognised standards set by OFSTED, QCA, TDA, NCSL, BECTA and the Strategies' show that they are committed to developing, improving and generally pushing on well with ICT.

This of course, is done by completing the Self review framework. There are eight elements to this matrix and schools are increasingly choosing to work with relevant areas when they see fit, rather than rushing to complete the whole thing for the ICT Mark. By signing up and completing one element you can prove your commitment and receive:

• a certificate


• a logo for your website and letter head


• a press release



• the satisfaction of evaluating an area of ICT provision and seeing it improve

Watch Nicholas and I in the video below show how this is done:

Tim Rylands event @ Oakdale Junior

Friday May 22nd 9am- 4 pm

'I stepped out into a landscape of almost unbearable beauty, a feathered sky stretching out across the silken sea, warm sand beneath my feet. Turning, I saw steps, foot worn and timeless, winding downwards. Where would they lead me? Ben aged 10

Do you want to inspire your children to write like this?

Come along to
Oakdale Junior school on Friday May 22nd 9am- 4 pm

Here Tim Rylands, winner of the 2005 Becta ICT in Practice Award will present some inspiring, accessible tools and ideas for raising the level of writing, speaking and listening, and creativity in children of all ages.

Cost: £75
To book a place please e mail: admin.oakdale-jun@redbridge.gov.uk
Places are LIMITED- You will need to bring your laptop - lunch not included.

'Completely gripping',

'even reluctant writers became completely uninhibited',

'one of the most exciting and stimulating ways of using ICT effectively in the classroom.'

Just some of the reactions of teachers who have already heard Tim speak - so what are you waiting for?For more information on Tim check out: http://www.timrylands.com/Note this is kindly run By Dawn Halybone @ Oakdale - it is not free but well worth the money.

You can see an example of Tim in action on this Youtube clip and he is also featured in Teachers TV in this other Youtube clip

SMART Board Update

I got very excited when SMART released their first Lesson Activity toolkit, some 18 months ago. The toolkit is a collection of customisable FLASH activities,themes, buttons and tools to add extra functionality to the board. Well it seems the toolkit has just been updated and can be downloaded and integrated into your gallery now. James Hollis of the Teachers Love Smart Boards blog has made a video that shows how to install this new content.

It is also worth subscribing to the SMART Classrooms channel of Youtube for updates and the latest news on SMART.

Fronter Latest

When looking through the many rooms and Fronter pages across the borough I am seeing lots of interesting work. I took a screen grab of just some of the pages that caught my eye today, see below, I will do my best to use this blog as a way of sharing the good work I come across for the inspiration of others, so if you are doing good things with Fronter, let me know and share. We do have a Fronter network that meets every half term to share progress and ideas with each other. Please email Alex to express your interest in this group and to find out the details for the next meeting.

Also all ICT Coordinators were given access to our Fronter room recently, if you have found that you can't access this room, or have simply forgotton how, email me and I'll guide you in the right direction. Tip the password is also the username.

Just in

New Esafety materials from TDA/BECTA Know it All for Primary - a review here soon

Facebook Again

I love Facebook and find it a great way to stay connected and 'in the know', but there are a few dos and don'ts that to most are obvious, but as Reuters reports, there are others who just don't get it:

Facebook surfing while sick costs Swiss woman job

A Swiss insurance worker lost her job after surfing popular social network site Facebook while off sick, her employer said on Friday.

Read the full story here

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE53N4JF20090424

If you are reading this and thinking I need more concrete guidance on staff cyber activity. There are some new DCSF guidelines on school staff and cyber bullying, which were issued just last week, these make mention of behaviour on social networks and this very readable leaflet can be downloaded from here.

Remember

Don't forget you can find us on Facebook



You can catch Anthony on Twitter here



You can read Anthony's Blog here



Or you may want to read Nicholas Hughes's Blog here



The Film Competition is still open - register today and submit a four minute epic by 26th June 2009- you could win a trip for your four Spielbergs to the BBC and even a Flip each.

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.

Subject Leaders Meeting 12th March

Welcome to the Primary ICT Update

This week I simply want to post two items about Subject leaders next week, this takes place in rooms S2 and S4 on March 12th @ 9:00 am. It is hosted by Nicholas, Anthony, Holly Westow, Joskos and Mina Patel.


If you are coming, then please make sure you have booked on, we have record attendees this term, but we must be clear on numbers for Health and Safety and refreshment issues. So if you are coming and have yet to sign up, then you need to ASAP - visit Redbridgepdc or ask someone in your school to do it for you. Supply cover has already been paid to your school for this event.




Background Reading for Subject Leaders



It will be extremely helpful if you read through the DCSF publication, 'Beyond Engagement', before next Thursdays event. It is a short and very readable document, which will help inform our session and your job week to week.



It can be downloaded from here


















Provisional Agenda for Subject Leaders
9.00 - Welcome and updates S2 - Anthony
9.30 - What does effective ICT Support look like - Colin Reed
10.10 - Coffee/Tea
10.35 - Introduction to the MLE - Anthony and Mina
11.35 - Beyond QCA - New documents from Islington. - Nic (Including 7min on National Expectations)
12.30 - Lunch
1.15 - Inspiring others and the role of ICT in Literacy. - Anthony, Holly Westow and Nic.



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.

Teachmeetnel2,Asus feedback, Anithings and more

Welcome to another Redbridge Primary ICT update














In this issue:

• Dates for your diary
• Film entries
• Asus in Review
• Teachmeet North East London 2
• Anythings - a software developer seeks your help
• Siftables
• Last Minute Links

Diary Dates
Don't forget the following :

12th March 2009 All Day- Redbridge Primary ICT Coordinators regular meeting - supply cover is paid of course- look out for the agenda here soon


23rd April 2009 Using the Whiteboard Effectively- Numeracy - this is aimed at intermediate users of either the SMART or Activ Primary boards and is hosted by Liz Gibbs, co-author of the Primary Strategy 'Keys to Learning' publication. Places are still available


Book now via Redbridgepdc


Asus in Review


Fairlop primary school have been using the first generation Asus machines for a range of curriculum applications. The following is a feedback from the school on how the project has gone.


Before you read on, please remember the following. The Asus was one of the first in a generation of 'netbooks', a sort of big brother to PDAs and younger brother to the laptop. These are an affordable computer but there are limitations, and the term 'netbook' is given quite aptly, as they are designed to be used on the net, rather than as a memory hungry multimedia suite. Also most Asus devices are Linux driven, which some teachers struggle with as it is an unfamiliar interface. There are newer Minibooks, which run Winows XP home, but these are difficult to network, remember most school laptops are Windows XP Professional, there is a difference.

This is how wikipedia define a netbook:

A netbook (a portmanteau of Internet and notebook) is a class of laptop computer designed for wireless communication and access to the Internet.^[1]

Primarily designed for web browsing and e-mailing, netbooks "rely heavily on the Internet for remote access to web-based applications"^[2] and are targeted increasingly at cloud computing users who require a less powerful client computer.^[3]. Netbooks typically run either Linux or Windows XP^[2] rather than more resource-intensive operating systems like Windows Vista^[4]. The devices range in size from below 5 inches^[5] to over 13,^[6], typically weigh 2 to 3 pounds and are often significantly cheaper than general purpose laptops.^[2]

Netbooks represent a "greener" alternative to larger laptops due to "lower power demands, fewer toxic components, and a resource-efficient approach to computing" and some models have achieved EPEAT

The Samsing NC10

The Asus was the machine of 2008, since then other machines have entered the arena. The ICT team are currently using the award winning Samsung NC10,as their machine of choice, this runs Windows XP Home, and has just the most amazing battery life.


It featured on the wall of netbooks at the Microsoft stand at Bett and was the clear winner. I am not sure though if the NC10 is the device of choice for pupils, as it doesn't seem to like being dropped. Whereas the Fizzbook Spin from Zoostorm is a far more rugged device. It is a Windows driven Netbook with a tablet screen and ruggedised outer case. All classroom laptops should look and be packaged like this !!













The Fizzbook

If you are thinking of buying a set of netbooks for your school staff or pupils, we would ask you to consider your choice carefully.

• Think about what you will be using the device for - is it powerful enough to drive a SMART Board?


• Can you load applications on this device? - LInux devices are difficult to add new software to


• How long does the battery last for - this will enable mobile working by either teachers or pupils, my NC10 can last for almost 7 hours before a charge- that is incredible


• Can you easily network a set of the devices you are buying - if in doubt then talk to and listen to your ICT support company, ask them what is working well at other schools. It may be helpful to visit a school where they are using netbooks and see them in operation.


• Do you have the wireless infrastructure to support a number of these devices, and if so how many, again talk to your support company and ask for a wireless survey

Using ASUS minibooks in Year 5GR/Fairlop Primary



The ASUS computers were a welcome addition to my classroom. As a primary school teacher with 30 students and only an hour of ICT a week I hoped these laptops were going to make our lives so much easier. The students were excited about the extra computer resources.



The class were very mature and responsible with the computers, but there never seemed to be a safe way to get them out onto tables without it being a big production. An additional bonus for me was that the computers in class definitely helped me out as a teacher when I needed display work. All my students had their work typed up and just need to add pictures or change text size, saving me lots of time!


I was a huge fan of the ASUS computers if we could workout/ fix the problems that I have highlighted below. The computers added excitement to the students work. Students I believe tended to work harder and better if they knew they would be using the laptops. The students also enjoyed having their own computer. They felt like it was something they should be proud of. Although we cover word processing tasks in our basic skills lessons from Year 3 upwards, I was shocked at how much the children forget about basic wp features, when we used them for typing.


The students had a chance to use the Beebots, digital camera and laptops all on the same day. We had a technology day one day mid trial. The students were to use the beebots to tell directions, record themselves teaching a younger year group have to use the beebots on their laptops or using the digital cameras. The students thoroughly enjoyed themselves and made great instructions.


Overall my class really enjoyed this project and the opportunity to use the minibooks. They were previously used in the Year 6 trip to Glasbury and are transferring to Year 3 for the last three weeks of the term to be used to help re-inforce recently learned wp skills and inserting photos on Hindu, Romans and Literacy topics.


Frustrating points:

Classroom didn’t have many power outlets for charging purposes (solved by purchasing several 4-gang electrical leads to assist with battery charging)

Minibooks didn’t hold their charge for very long – 2 hours or so (students got very nervous when the warning sign appeared!)

1 minibook’s charger is not working correctly nor is 1 router charger

Unpacking & packing up laptops for security purposes – (solved by getting additional key cut to classroom, locking door at break or lunch time, if minibooks were left out)

Internet access only supported 8/9 users per wireless router – some children unable to gain access until another child logged out

Saving work for printing or future use in class means saving to a memory stick/somewhat time consuming

The students found a couple times that their work, which I personally helped them saved, was not there the next time we signed in.

The program on the computer which the students used for word processing didn't have spell check feature, this would have been a real bonus enabling students to see when they made a mistake and be able to correct it independently.

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Film Entries

You will remember in the last addition, I mentioned th launch of the Redbridge schools film competion, well, so far we have over 16 requests for packs, but that still leaves quite a few of you, who are still without a free camera and out of the compettion.

Visit http://webfronter.com/redbridge/redbridgepict_filmawards for more details

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Teachmeet North East London 2

Do you want free CPD and Cakes?

Do you want to be inspired by some of the those on the cutting edge of ICT and those that are just naturally doing good stuff in the classroom?

Do you want to network, meet new friends and just generally have a great evening?

you do !

Then Teachmeet North East London is the night for you, proudly organised by Redbridge Primary ICT ( NIcholas and Anthony) and the Havering ICT Team, and building on the success of last years event

Why should you attend ‘TeachMeet ICT NE London 2’?
Held across the United Kingdom, TeachMeets offer the chance for teaching assistants, teachers, consultants, governors, bloggers and twitterers to share 'what is working' in ICT in education. ‘TeachMeet NE London 2 – ICT’ offers you:-

A variety of ‘real classroom practice’ ICT presentations that so far include a focus on the London MLE in Action, Visualisers in Art, Blogs and Wikis in the Classroom, Animation and the new LGfL Internet Safety Scheme of Work. A number of MiniNote presentations (15 minutes) will be presented by guest speakers including Teachers’ TV Star Tom Barrett and inpiring secondary teacher and blogger, Drew Buddie

The opportunity to either share what they are doing or to just listen (lurker) to what others are doing in ICT. Why not come and speak about what is happening in ICT in your learning establishment via a mini (7 minute) or nano (2 minute) presentation?

Free food and refreshments, as well as a free shuttle-bus from Dagenham East Underground Station to CEME and back throughout the evening and free car-parking. NO ENTRY FEE.

Terry Freedman, Former Chair of Naace and Advisor to Becta and QCA as host for the evening.

A raffle with excellent prizes, with proceeds going to help rebuild a Cuban school destroyed by Hurricane Ike. Sponsors include Joskos, The Visualiser Forum, 2simple, Moshi Monsters, AverMedia

Please give your support and come along as either a presenter or 'lurker' by visiting:
http://teachmeet.pbwiki.com/TeachMeet+NE+London+2+2009+-+Havering+LA+@+CEME

If you have any further queries, then please contact Anthony Evans or Dave Smith

...Sign-up fast though, as places are limited.
____________________________________

Anithings


Red Plane Demo from Stripey Design on Vimeo.

This is your chance for your class to contribute to the design of a new software package.Anithings is a brand new children's creativity tool. It enables animated stories to be created simply and quickly, allowing children's creativity to run wild. It's desinger Steve from Stripey designs, tells us below what the software does:

What does it do?
Anithings contains a number of powerful features which are brought together in an innovative and easy-to-use interface. Features include:

• Storyboarding. Start the process of creating your story with the storyboard tool. Add characters, props and set scene properties.




• Tweening'. Simply drag the timeline slider to the required position and move your object. The object will now animate by moving to the new position when the animation is played. An object's properties such as colour, size, transparency and rotation can be animated in the same way.




• Scene Animating. Scenes can be animated in the same way as objects. e.g animate the light levels to produce a day-break effect.




• Recording Motion. As well as the tweening capabilities objects can be animated by pressing record and capturing movement directly. This allows animations to be created extremely simply, opening up the medium for a wide range of abilities.




• Character construction. Objects can be snapped together to form characters and props (Anithings). Hinges are created to allow limb animation. These Anithings can be re-used by dropping them on the 'bank'. The bank also contains a number of pre-made Anithings for children to use in their animations.

• Speech Bubbles. Speech bubbles which help to tell your story and bring your Anithings to life. This is just a subset of the features that will be included. Keep an eye out for the Beta version (coming soon) to discover more for yourself.

As mentioned above the product contains a bank of pre-made 'Anithing' characters for children to use as part of their animations. Steve at Anithings is looking for ideas for characters to include, if you would like to get involved then he would love to receive charater designs/ideas from your children. Any ideas that are used will win a free copy of the product when it is launched!
Simply contact Steve via the email link here if you would like to participate

_________________________________________________


Last Minute Links

Tellyads

Are you studying adverts for Literacy ?- this site is brilliant it contains all the latest TV adverts, without having to scour Youtube, it also gives you the option of purchasing adverts as a DVD compilation.

E.gg Timer.com

Quite simply its a timer, you can change how long the timer runs and thats it - simplicity itself.

_________________________________________________

Siftables

This piece of tactile tech caught my eye on TED Talks recently, would love to see a box of these on the shelf of nursery classes

Film Competition, Updates on Fronter,Nintendo DS and another offer

Welcome to the latest update from Redbridge Primary ICT.



Image uploaded byJellybeanz

Hello Again
I hope you have all been enjoying the snow. When the first flakes began to fall on Sunday night the blogosphere erupted with snow based activity on Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. On all of these sites people tagged their snow pictures with the tag '#uksnow'. At 8pm on Monday I posted some of the first pictures on Flickr with this tag, three bland shots of the front of my house in a gentle blizzard. By Midnight tonight the number of pictures posted on Flickr with the tag #uksnow has risen to almost 4,000. Have a look at this growing stream of images, teachers could perhaps use some of these to inspire some writing or art work.

There is so much I could have fitted into this issue, which means inevitably some things will be left out. This is the nature of ICT and the information age we live in, so much comes to us, that it is hard to prioritise and sift out through the blogs and updates, well that's where this blog comes in. Its here we aim to pass on the relevant, interesting and exciting news in Primary ICT.

As usual please post your feedback in the comment box, or via email to Anthony Evans

In this issue:

• Dates for your Diary



• Film Competition Launched



• DS in Review again



• Sites mentioned at Headteachers forum



• Special Offers



• Its Fronter only a bit of a better Interface

• Safer Internet Day

Dates for your Diary

Don't forget the following :
February 11th - Teaching the Control Element of ICT at Key Stage 2, this course will give you a through knowledge of LOGO and Lego Robolab software. It is run by Gary Stevens, a former inner London adviser for ICT and London Met Lecturer. This is one of best courses and guess what places are still available!! - Book now via Redbridgepdc

March 12th - Primary ICT Subject Leaders Meeting - I see the usual suspects have booked already and we welcome you again, but there are still some unfilled spaces. This is a supply cover paid event, which all ICT coordinator are entitled to go to, we'd love to see you!
If you can't or don't want to come, please let us know why (anonymously) in the box below, as we are trying to serve you, not just be in the business of running events.



Note Please bring your laptops to this event - agenda will be posted here soon
See redbridgepdc for other courses

LGfL Annual Conferences for Technicians
These information-packed and oversubscribed conferences for school ICT Technicians will again be held at the prestigious Auditorium, BT Centre, St Pauls. Further details will follow shortly but for now please note the date : 30th March am and repeated for a second sitting 30th March pm
____________________________________________________________
Film Competition finally Launched

Are there any budding Spielberg's in your school, or better still teams of four Spielbergs. Redbridge Primary ICT and Alex Rees have launched a competition to create short films of up to 3 minutes on anyone of the fours suggested themes on the Film Competition website.

Children could win visits to the BBC and a Flip Ultra Camera of their own!!!

To register see the 'How to Enter' page of the Film Competition website:




http://webfronter.com/redbridge/redbridgepict_filmawards

All schools entering will get a free Flip Ultra camera for their school. So what are you waiting for.
Coming soon a Film competition blog containing entries and Primary films past and present.If you have done any films in the past please send me the links.

Please note an email or Facebook message to me is not registering
________________________________________________________________

New Blogs on the block

Time to mention some more school blogs that are springing up like buildings in Google Earth:

Saint Bedes - there appears to be a lot of hard work gone into this series of linked class blogs, with each class contributing news, images and videos. Class 1l look like they have been particularly busy and active recently, while over on Mr Kirby's 5K blog, parents are kept up to date with class activity by a succession of short video clips, including biscuit making and an example of good interview skills.

The front page of the Saint Bedes Blog shows them proudly collecting thier ICT Mark @Bett, I am sure other schools in our borough will follow soon.






Saint Aidans blog is just getting going and the authors are already posting videos and images of class story telling and the visit to Kingswood by Year 6. I am keeping an eye on the work posted by the ICT Club.

More blogs next time
____________________________________________________________________ Nintendo DS - Feedback

The Nintendo DS mini consoles recently spent a term in Saint Peter and Pauls primary, where the teachers and students really enjoyed using them. Michael Corcoran, the deputy and ICT Coordinator has submitted this presentation, detailing the project.

Nintendo Project Report

View more presentations from Anthony Evans.

Also-we hear that Luton ICT team have asked Dawn Halybone to go and present at their ICT conference on using the devices in the classroom. And she will also be at the Games Based Learning conference . this term.

___________________________________________________________________

Sites mentioned at the Redbridge Headteachers Forum
Last week I gave a short update to our Redbridge Headteachers. I mentioned a number of websites around online gaming and learning, these were:

http://www.spellingcity.com/ see a video made by Nicholas and I which explians this site

and

http://tutpup.com/

I also showed a tool that analyses text for the most commonly occurring words, before making a graphical represnetation of this - Wordle of course

http://www.wordle.net/


I also mentioned Twitter and how some teachers are using this in Geography and literacy.We'll come back to this in another post.

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Its Fronter only a bit of an easier Interface

While at Bett and the recent Redbridge Show and tell of Fronter Use, we saw the new Entrance Hall device for Fronter. In a nutshell this provides children with a far more visual opening screen, in place of the rather unprimary text screen that currently greets them when they login. This should arrive in March whne Fronter issues its next update. I laos look forward to visual mail, which is a similarly image based tool. Here users can click on an image of another pupil or teacher, they wish to email, rather than having to type in a long email address. This is very well suited to children in Key Stage 1 and Founadtion and for some children who need a more visual prompt.



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Special Offer

Last week we brought you some savings on the Flip camera. This week I have a trial of Sherston’s Googlebox Key Stage 2 channels for four Redbridge Schools for Free until the end of the academic year.

Matt from the BLI group, who some of you will remember from Subject leaders has provided this offer in return for though he would like the schools to blog the channel experiences. Have a look at the Sherston Channels/ Gogglebox, and decide for your self whether you'd like your school to trial this product. According to Matt, you will have all singing, all dancing fully functioning content for school use, home use, parent use….. until the end of this academic year
If you are interested then you will need to:

• Be a Redbridge school


• Be ICT marked or in the process of completing the Self Review Framework

• Commit to posting regular (fortnightly) blog posts on the use of the Sherston Channels in your school



• Feedback your findings at Redbridge ICT Subject Leaders

Interested, then email Anthony.Evans by February 16th and I'll liase with Sherston to get the account set up for your school.

.) Safer Internet Day

Safer Internet Day Assemblies
To mark Safer Internet Day on Tuesday 10th February 2009, CEOP has made available two new short assemblies: original, thought-provoking films which, within ten minutes, incorporate the very latest online safety advice from the CEOP Centre.

The assemblies, which come with comprehensive guidance notes, suggested lesson plans and child protection information, are available to teachers registering at https://owa.redbridge.gov.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/teachers for both primary and secondary school audiences. They focus on children’s risk taking behaviour – particularly in social networking sites and the way their personal information can be manipulated by offenders and peers.

These resources have been developed in partnership with CEOP’s youth panel and a group of education professionals to ensure that they are relevant and up to date with the latest risks and technologies.

Safer Internet Day 2009 - file://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/sid09
Please visit this link to view the Safer Internet Day area. In this area you can:

View the European Commissions film on cyber bullying
Check out the Virtual Fair
View the new parental webcast
Access the SID portal (below)

Safer Internet Day 2009 Portal - file://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/sid09/portal
Leading up to Safer Internet Day a number of key stakeholders have produced new materials and content for a range of target audiences. The portal aims to give the end user access to a plethora of resources and links to raise awareness of internet safely and security.
They have has over 3000 registration to Safer Internet Day through the TUK. CEOP have extracted the top initiatives across the country and these will appear on a map so people can search for activity close to their locality

Last minute links

• Facebook safety - remember children under 13 are not permitted to us this service - more info here

• Comprehensive video tutorials on maing animated videos from Kent TV - click here

• Create a quick and easy checklist with this checklist geneartor - ok so I guess you could scribble it out by hand - click here

• Create your own Mr Men or Little Miss - click here here is one I made earlier:

Bett,Primary Review,News, Begin the year with a Blog

Max Wainwright from 2Simple shows 2DIY for the first time


Welcome back and happy 2 oh 9. Its going to be another exciting year for Primary ICT, with even more innovative gadgets and software filling the shelves of this weeks BETT show. And as always Redbridge ICT people will be carrying on the innovation and consolidation of good ICT Tech and Teaching

In this weeks issue:


Diary Dates
Primary Review Initial thoughts
Begin the year with a blog
Redbridge Primary ICT @ BETT
In the News

Diary Dates

The following dates are on RedbridgePDC , but they may have passed you by:

• 04 February 2009 - London MLE Show and Tell 14:00 - 1600 find out how the MLE / Fronter is being is used in London schools. Also that day for your technicians there is a MLE: Administrators' Workshop from 10:00 until 13:00 -further details and for queries please email Alex Rees



• 11 February 2009 - Teaching the Control Element of KS2 ICT - a course lead by Gary Stevens of 147 group pm Logo, Lego and Control - a very popular, stretching and worthy course- places till available



• 12Th March 2008 - Primary ICT Subject Leaders Meeting - Supply cover paid - an excellent, high quality day of input and hands-on learning from Nicholas, Anthony and Doug Dickinson - be there or miss out- more details and agenda to follow soon - so far we have taken 22 bookings - roughly 50% of our schools - is that you and if its not why not - why are you missing out on supply cover paid networking, cpd and up to the minute news and ICT inspiration

• 18Th March 2009 ICT and Renewed Frameworks in Literacy lead by Rebecca Stainsby and Anthony Evans - places still available

The Primary Curriculum Review - Initial Thoughts

(note there should be a video from the Telgraph under here- be patient)




Last December saw the publication of the interim report of the Primary review, headed up by Jim Rose. This is very exciting and important for ICT as the report recognised that ICT needed to take a greater part in children's learning. In terms of ICT the report raised this and other key points,mainly:

• The curriculum and teaching and learning has not always kept pace with children's passion for and agility with ICT



• Many of the topics for ICT @ KS3 could move into KS2



• There still needs to be a good balance of both discrete and cross-curricular teaching

Currently we are waiting to see what the new guidelines for ICT @ primary will look like, but by September 2011, we will be teaching a revised and a more fit for audience Primary ICT curriculum. This is surely well overdue, when you consider the publication of the QCA schemes of work for ICT was 1st of January 1998! It is interesting to note that the whole issue of 21st Century skill has been given a lot of debate around the blogosphere of late. While Rose has published his review a US document was published in 2007, that tries to categorise the skills needed for 21st Century learners. This was been put togther by Education Authorities and organisations such as Cisco, Adobe and Miscrosoft. Have a look at 21stcenturyskills.org

We will of course keep you posted with developments..


Begin the year with a blog

Many Redbridge Primary schools are dispensing with a reliance on the static polished website and choosing blogging as a means of quick publishing of news and events. This is in line with the advice that both Redbridge Primary ICT and Mina Patel from the LGFL give. We recognise that the Digital Brain Platform can be difficult and cumbersome to use as a platform to publish regular weekly class or whole school news, and therefore one model is to have a website as a sort of E prospectus, alongside a school blog, for weekly and even daily updates.

Some schools have taken this even further and are experimenting with blogging as a way to engage children with writing through commenting on each others ICT or Literacy work.

Look at the examples below and consider whether your school would benefit from having a blog, speaking as a regular borough and personal blogger I find it a far easier and quicker way of publishing news than a conventional website.

Examples

The definitive Redbridge school blog is run by Fairlop Primary, where every class has a blog linked to the main school blog. Parents at the school look forward to the regular news updates. The school news comes in the form of either images, videos, text or links to the school podcasts. Through embedded widgets in this website they are able to track their readers from across the globe.

Have a look at Fairlop blogs here

A new blog on the block comes from John Bramston Primary, which started last term. It is a packed site, with regular updates, which include both images,text and video. Alongside the main page of whole school news, there is also a individual class pages, which cover such topics as 'Star of the Week' and a description of the Literacy that has been covered.





See the example below, where the class combined science and literacy to look at changing materials through recipe instruction writing.

I am sure you'll agree the blog is a great way of creating better home school links, as children now have an easier way to answer the question, 'What did you do @ school?' - now they can guide their parents/carers mouse to the answer.

There are other schools worth looking at as an example of what your blog may look like, these are:

Oakdale Junior

Parkhill Junior

Gearies Infants

Ripple Junior in Barking and Dagenham was shown to us at a recent Consultant meet- Gillian from B and D showed us a Blog that wasn't just about news sharing but used the commenting function to promote writing and editing. Have a look at the sidebar guidance for children on how the teacher would like the pupils to write using standard English.

Have we forgotten you ?

Give me your blog address, name and school, and we'll include you in our next issue:

Cleveland Blogs Buzz

By far one of the most exciting schools blogs to come to my attention recently has been the Cleveland Junior school blogs. Here the children are really participating by using the comment function and judging each others entries in online animation competitions. The school is also facilitating it's own safe online chat room, which is proving a very popular online hang out and place where children can share tips and ideas for animation. What's more children are using this as a place for friend sourcing and those that might not find talking to others in school very easy, are instead finding the online room a safer and easier place to talk. I recently visited the school and used my Flip to record Anjum and Simon (network manager) describing how they have been using both the blogs and the chat room and how the children have responded.

Fancy making your own blog click here

Redbridge P ICT @ BETT

This week we will be at Bett, Nicholas and I are there on Friday, and you may also see me on a certain stand on Saturday. We have a rough itinerary as follows:

• Visit the RM stand and the Steljes stand to see an Interactive Table- The RM stand will have real children using the Microsoft Surface There will also be other gadgets and tools and we want to talk to the children, not the sales reps about their value - stand D60
• 
  We will of course visit the Fronter stand to talk about how schools are using the London MLE stand K9

• Each of the main IWB platforms deserve a visit and I am keen to see the Activ Expression from Promethean in action - stand B30

• The Net book is the device to have at the moment, but which is the best model for a primary school and should one buy Linux or Windows, Fizzbook or Asus- the Microsoft stand features a giant wall of Netbooks and other suppliers like Tag learning will be showcasing robust netbook, designed for the classroom. We'd like to see as many as we can in order to be better informed. see the Microsoft stand at D40

• The 2Simple Stand will showcase new French Software and 2DIY - games and electronic drag and drop making software. see my film of 2Diy on my blog here and visit the stand on F59

One of the high points of Bett will be Teachmeet - last year this event inspired us to run our own successful event at Redbridge and begun our exciting work with Asus devices and games consoles. It was here that Nicholas and I heard Derek Robinson talk about his work in Scotland with the Nintendo and Brain Training.

Who knows what we'll learn form the mini and nano presentations and in the networking with great ICT minds.

Redbridge ICT in the News

This week Redbridge Primary schools have appeared in the Wanstead and Woodford Guardian for their work with Nicholas Hughes on Video Conferencing - read more here... Nicholas's work builds on the long established tradition of Video Conferenicing in the borough pioneered by Alison Seagrave at Parkhill and others. Long may it carry on.

Other media stars of the moment include our very own Lynn Bailey from Redbridge Primary in the December edition of 'Sharing Good Practice', the weekly ICT magazine. (Heat magazine for Geeks)

Lynn wrote about a mini digital USB microscope and how she and others had used it across the school.

Read the article below and if you haven't already, then sign up to receive the weekly edition of Sharing Good practice.

SGP52

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

Happy Christmas ICT is not over

It has been a great year for Nicholas and I in Primary ICT, and we look forward to more of the same in 2009. Thank you to everyone who has been supportive of our work and inspiring in their own. We have really enjoyed sharing ideas and good work together at Subject Leaders and in your schools.

Please keep on sharing and engaging with Redbridge Primary ICT, so that we can learn from each other and promote good quality ICT Teaching for our children.


For all your hard work and support we have put together a little film, featuring 2 men and a BeeBot!

Enjoy and have a great Christmas Holiday!