Information and Communication Technology

At New Siblands School, ICT is taught as a subject as well as in a cross curricular way and is approached in a practical, child-centred manner. Learning and teaching is everywhere enhanced and enjoyed through the use of computers and the internet.

ICT is a very important part of the curriculum as it provides our pupils numerous opportunities to expand their knowledge and understanding of the world by experiencing, investigating, manipulating and using information in a variety of forms. These include text, symbols, sound, graphics, photographs, music and video.

We consider ICT to be a vital tool in enabling access to the curriculum and the personal and social education of our pupils. ICT encourages our pupils to be independent learners and for those with complex needs it provides a variety of ways which enables them to interact with their environment at a more autonomous level.

In the past New Siblands has followed the QCA recommended 6 stage programme for teaching ICT.  We adapted this for the needs of our pupils.  However we found the Local Educational authority has developed a new framework for teaching ICT recognising that for mainstream pupils the QCA programme was not challenging enough . The LEA programme consists of 6 units namely:

1. Communicating information
2. Handling information
3. Modelling and simulations
4. Control technology
5. Acceptable use of technology
6. Research and acceptable use

These units are taught progressively. In response to the pupils' needs we found this to be a much more flexible and useful tool for teaching ICT within the context of our school and so we have adopted and adapted it for our purposes.

This scheme of work is designed to allow class teachers to concentrate on the teaching and learning of ICT within the classroom. Additionally it gives a clear structure to each unit with clear learning objectives and outcomes for each year group.

Interactive Whiteboards

We have spent over 20.000 to equip all classes and the hall with interactive whiteboards and data projectors.

At New Siblands teachers are using them to deliver the curriculum in a highly motivating and creative way. Unlike desktop computers, the whiteboards can engage a whole class, or the whole school during assembly times, in a learning process which is truly interactive.

What are they?

In school we use Smartboards. Smartboards are large display screens which are touch sensitive. They are connected to a computer or laptop and when touched by the finger they send information back to the computer relating to exactly where on the board the touch occurred. This is similar to the way that a normal touch-screen works, however, in order for one to see the computer screen on the board, it needs to be displayed by a digital LCD projector.