INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY POLICY

1)THE IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

At The Colleton Primary School we fully support the statement from the ICT National Curriculum as follows:

Information and communication technology (ICT) prepares pupils to participate in a rapidly changing world in which work and other activities are increasingly transformed by access to varied and developing technology. Pupils use ICT tools to find, explore, analyse, exchange and present information responsibly, creatively and with discrimination. They learn how to employ ICT to enable rapid access to ideas and experiences from a wide range of people, communities and cultures. Increased capability in the use of ICT promotes initiative and independent learning, with pupils being able to make informed judgements about when and where to use ICT to best effect, and to consider its implications for home and work both now and in the future.

2) WHAT DO WE MEAN BY ICT ?

The work children do in ICT may be with computers, programmable robots, calculators, scanners, tape recorders, video and digital cameras, the Internet, E-mail and the Learning Platform. This document is a statement of our aims, strategies and intentions in this area, but largely centres on the use of computers.

3) AIMS

All children should be given equal opportunity to develop ICT capability through a range of integrated curriculum activities.

These activities should :

  • develop confidence and enjoyment in the use of ICT
  • make children aware of the effects of the use of ICT
  • enable children to become familiar with the computer keyboard and other aspects of ICT hardware and software.
  • enable children to take greater responsibility for their own learning and provide opportunities for them to decide when it is appropriate to use ICT in their work, and when it is not.
  • encourage the use of ICT as a tool across the curriculum.
4) PURPOSES OF ICT AND SKILLS REQUIRED

a) In line with the National Curriculum Document 2000 for ICT, the four aspects of study are:

  • finding things out
  • developing ideas and making things happen
  • exchanging and sharing information
  • reviewing, modifying and evaluating work as it progresses

b) In addition to this, children will be taught appropriate ICT skills, integrated with other curriculum work. These are an integral and essential part of using ICT as a tool as they progress through the Key Stages.

5) IMPLEMENTATION

A scheme of work for the teaching of ICT has been drawn up in line with the QCA document which follows a two year rolling programme in each team alongside other curriculum areas, and is part of the Four Year Rolling Programme for all subjects at KS2 and Two Year Rolling Programme at KS1.

  • Each QCA Unit is to be used as a guideline when planning ICT in each Team. Where possible, this should be integrated with planned curriculum work, but must include the learning objectives and outcomes stated in each Unit, but not necessarily its content. This is currently under review, and the Wokingham Programme of Study for ICT is being trialled.
  • Teachers should decide what kind of learning activities will best carry out these objectives with the available software and also best fit their children’s learning needs.
  • It should be noted that the Units refer to individual year groups, and where possible the Rolling Programme includes Units that have similar content for each of the vertically grouped years in each Team. These should be looked at in conjunction with each other, and planned in such a way as to allow progression and differentiation for the abilities and year groups of the children, while covering the essential learning objectives and outcomes for each Unit.
  • In addition to this,children should be given opportunities to apply and develop their ICT capability through the use of ICT tools to support their learning in all subjects. Although ICT in P.E. is not statutory, teachers will use their own judgement and incorporate this when appropriate.
  • At Key Stage 1, there are no statutory requirements to teach the use of ICT in the programmes of study for the non-core foundation subjects. Teachers should use their judgement to decide where it is appropriate to teach the use of ICT across these subjects at KS 1.
  • Activities and software to be used in these areas should be indicated in termly curriculum plans, hyperlinked where relevant, and coloured in blue.

6) TEACHING AND LEARNING

A variety of teaching strategies will be used appropriate to the skills, knowledge and processes to be taught, working as a whole class, different sizes of group, as an individual or with a helper. Research shows that there are great benefits when children work in pairs on ICT based tasks, as they share knowledge and expertise, and discuss their activity together.

7) OPPORTUNITIES

Teachers must plan to ensure that all children have regular access to ICT across the curriculum, in addition to weekly planned ICT time in the E-Classroom. Each team should decide upon the most appropriate management of this, and suggestions for doing so are as follows:

  • a checklist could be kept by the teacher/children to record activities as they are completed.
  • ICT activities could be included on weekly planners where these are in use.

Children should be given opportunities to make judgements about the appropriate use of ICT through discussion.

8)MONITORING PROGRESS AND ACHIEVEMENT, and ASSESSMENT AND RECORD KEEPING.

1)The Network Folder

Each child has a named folder on the Network drive, set up by the ICT Technician on entry to the school. Any work saved to this folder forms part of a record of their progress and achievement in ICT. Where children are too young to save and load files themselves, the teacher or teaching assistant should make a point of saving work to this folder wherever relevant. As they progress through the school, children should be taught how to save to and load from their personal network folder.

2)ICT Electronic Record Sheet

The child's network folder also contains an electronic record sheet. The ICT Technician or Teaching Assistant will assist the Foundation Stage teacher to begin the electronic record sheet, which will then be updated regularly, usually after a unit of work has been completed, by the class teacher, assisted by the ICT Technician.

At the beginning of each new school year, the Electronic Record Sheet should be saved to indicate a new year group, leaving the old file as a record of 1 year’s ICT progress, to be stored separately by the ICT Technician.

From Year 4, children will be expected to begin to maintain this record themselves, with training and monitoring by their teachers and/or the ICT technician/Teaching Assistants.

By Year 5, they should be taught to use hyperlinks in their ICT Record to files in their Network Folder that show evidence of the learning that they have achieved.

  • Using the information from the electronic record, the work saved to the child’s Network folder and the teachers' working knowledge of children's ICT capability, their progress will be assessed with reference to the National Curriculum Level statements at the end of each year.
  • A sample of work in the areas of ICT covered by the teacher during the year that is representative of an able, average and below average child’s work should be brought to a yearly Staff Meeting for moderating and annotating. In this way, a School portfolio can be kept and regularly updated to assist with the assessment of children in ICT, and the monitoring of progress through each Key Stage.

9) S.E.N

When planning work for children who demonstrate Special Educational Needs, reference to the school’s S.E.N. policy should be made and

either

a)material selected from the earlier Key Stage where necessary

or

b)The Unit of study being taught will be adapted or supported

to enable individual pupils to progress and demonstrate achievement.

Teachers should refer to the SENCO and list of software for any special programs suitable for S.E.N. A laptop is available for individual use where required.

10) GIFTED and TALENTED CHILDREN

When planning work for children who demonstrate particular ability, reference to the school’s Able Child policy should be made and

either

a)material selected from additional resources

or

b)the Unit of study being taught will be adapted or extended

to enable individual pupils to progress and demonstrate achievement

Teachers should be aware that some children may be particularly able in ICT from experiences gained on home PC’s. This should be taken into account when planning learning, with extension activities provided to challenge and take the learning of these children further. Where appropriate, children should be encouraged to contribute and share their expertise with others.

11) SOFTWARE

Key programs are suggested for use with the QCA Units and the Rolling Programme in Appendix II and should be used wherever possible. Alternative programs may be suitable, and if available from our software resources should be used in consultation with the ICT co-ordinator. It is our policy to limit the number of different programs used by teachers and children to aid continuity and progression, and to ensure that a high quality of software is maintained at all times.

12) THE NETWORK

To ensure the smooth running of the School Network, it is essential that all staff adhere to basic “Good Housekeeping” principles when teaching children, and when using it themselves.

  • Always try to work logically with folders and files i.e. give them names that indicate clearly their contents
  • Always save to appropriate folders on the Network, rather than in an ad hoc way to the various drives.
  • Sort the contents of folders by creating new folders within them – think “Filing Cabinet”!
  • When files and folders are no longer needed, are duplicated or are out of date, DELETE them! This is especially important for large files such as photographs, video and sound files.
  • Where young children have saved incorrectly, please tidy up after them.
  • Where “rubbish” or unnecessary shortcuts have accumulated, delete.
  • This process should be done on a regular basis and can be likened to “Tidying your desk or tray”!

The majority of work by staff and children will be carried out on the school Network, using appropriate personal folders. Where floppy discs, memory pens, or other data storage devises are used from outside school, these should be monitored, and will be automatically virus checked by the Virus Protection software installed on the Server and Network. This is regularly updated from the Internet.

CD's are available from the ICT technician and any large amount of data that is not required (eg School Photographs) should be copied onto CD Rom and clearly labelled "Archive material" with a description and date, and stored in the Resources Room.

At no time should confidential data relating to pupils be left on the children’s or shared drives on the Network, such as yearly reports or IEPs.

13) INTERNET : ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY

The purpose of Internet access in schools is to raise educational standards and to support the professional work of staff.

The Government has set targets for ICT use in all schools through the National Grid for Learning Initiative. A number of studies and government projects have indicated the benefits to be gained through appropriate use of the Internet in Education.

These benefits include:

  • Access to world-wide educational resources including museums and art galleries;
  • Inclusion in government initiatives such as NGfL and the Virtual Teacher Centre;
  • Information and cultural exchanges between students world-wide;
  • News and current events;
  • Cultural, social and leisure use in libraries, clubs and at home;
  • Discussion with experts in many fields for pupils and staff;
  • Staff professional development – access to educational materials and good curriculum practice;
  • Communication with the advisory and support services, professional associations and colleagues;
  • Exchange of curriculum and administration data with LEA and DfEE.

Our current Broadband Internet Service Provider is RM (Research Machines)through Wokingham’s membership of South East Grid for Learning (SEGfL). This is Wokingham’s Regional Broadband Consortium and includes 17 LEAs from Bucks to Kent. Schools have been strongly advised by the DfES to use broadband connections provided through the local regional broadband consortium as they meet the requirements for educationalInternet suppliers. The service provided is termed a ‘managed’ service, meaning that the connection to the school router is managed on our behalf by RM.

  • Web filtering: The Internet feed is filtered for education use, blocking unsuitable and offensive material on the World Wide Web. In addition to the general filtering, the school has the option to add further banned sites, or unblock sites that we wish pupils or staff to use. It is, however, difficult to completely remove the risk that children might access unsuitable materials via the school system, therefore a disclaimer is included here, along with a Teachers’ and Children’s NetSmart Code of Practice to be followed by all staff and children.(Appendix III)

Disclaimer:

In common with other media such as magazines, books and video, some material available via the Internet is unsuitable for pupils. The ColletonSchool will supervise pupils and take all reasonable precautions to ensure that users access only appropriate material. However, due to the international scale and linked nature of information available via the Internet, it is not possible to guarantee that particular types of material will never appear on a terminal. Neither the school nor WDC can accept liability for the material accessed, or any consequences thereof.

The ColletonSchool ethos of independent and responsible learning underpins all use of our computer systems and includes the use of the Internet as part of planned lessons. However, because of the issues stated above, the following guidelines are essential:

  • At Key Stage 1, access to the Internet will be by teacher or adult demonstration and then close supervision only. Children will access teacher-prepared materials, or websites already identified in advance, rather than search freely on the open Internet.
  • Any use of external E-mail by Key Stage 1 children will be closely supervised by staff.
  • At Key Stage 2, Internet and E-mail Access will be granted to the team, groups or individuals as part of the scheme of work, after suitable introduction to the rules for responsible Internet and E-mail use. As use of the Internet becomes a common place activity, it should be noted that children should be reminded of the NetSmart Code of Practice on a termly basis, and it should be displayed clearly in the E-classroom, and Team areas.
  • The use of on-line resources should always be supervised, with the monitor clearly visible by staff. If necessary the History should be checked. Where possible, resources should be prepared in advance and downloaded to the school Intranet.
  • Use of PC’s during lunchtime is strictly limited to children who are being directly supervised by a teacher.
  • All users should adhere to the NetSmart Code of Practice
  • If children either deliberately or accidentally access or download unsuitable materials, staff should follow the following procedure:
  • The screen should be turned off.
  • Any printed materials or disks should be confiscated
  • If deliberate, the child’s access to the Internet should be suspended.
  • All offensive or unsuitable material should be deleted from the Temporary Internet Folder on the PC's in question, and URL's relating to offensive material reported to RM (Managed ADSL providers) as soon as possible.
  • The History should be checked and then deleted to ensure the URL's do not reoccur on the screen.
  • Any further action should be in line with our Behaviour Policy.

14) E-MAIL

All E-mail is delivered and sent via RM Broadband Exchange server or by Webmail, which is accessed via a Webmail icon on each desktop. However, it should be noted that pupils may have their own E-mail accounts on the Internet via Hotmail etc. These are not to be used in school.

The E-mail addresses for the three teams at The Colleton School are as follows:

Individual E-mail addresses may be set up where children are required to use E-mailfor a specific task. Children must ask permission if they wish to use these addresses for any other purpose, and be supervised by the teacher responsible.

15) PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

It is recognised that Staff Training and Development are key issues in the successful implementation of our school’s ICT policy and curriculum. The rapid introduction of new hardware systems and software means that it is essential that staff INSET needs are regularly assessed and reviewed. This will take place as part of our ICT Strategy, and will include a skills audit from time to time for all staff, teaching and non-teaching.

16) THE ROLE OF THE ICT TECHNICIAN

It is expected that teachers will be familiar with the following; however, the ICT Technician may be asked to assist with:

  • The Network, Website, Learning Platform, and Internet
  • ICT Electronic Record Files
  • Software, although teachers should thoroughly know any software before they use it with children
  • Supporting children during ICT activities

The ICT Technician, in consultation with the ICT Co-ordinator, has specific responsibility for:

  • ICT hardware, cables and connections
  • Printers and ink cartridges

17) HEALTH AND SAFETY

Risk Assessment for ICT is carried out with reference to General Classroom Activities in our Health and Safety Policy.

18) REVIEW OF POLICY

This policy will be reviewed in Autumn 2008

19) APPENDICES

Hardware ResourcesI

Software Resources & Recommended Software for

QCA Units of Work (Rolling Programme)II