INFORMATION
& COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
July 2002
1. AIMS
to develop in pupils a knowledge and understanding of the
appropriate uses of information technology with a corresponding ability to apply
it sensibly and with confidence as a resource;
to help pupils recognise the effects which ICT can and will have on themselves,
other individuals, organisations and society;
to encourage the use of ICT as a means to deliver subject content and specific
skills.
2. PREAMBLE
The school is currently engaged in a wholesale revision and
rewriting of its development plans for ICT.
A successful bid for Technology School status will enable the school to invest
heavily in the hardware and software which a school of this size and status
requires to maintain a high standard of education for the twenty-first century.
The school will invest in a minimum of four networked suites of computer work
stations and in a significant number of mobile lap top computers. This combination
will most efficiently offer staff and students a versatile access to the kind
of software packages required for entry level study (word processing, spreadsheets,
databases, communication and artwork) as well as more sophisticated software
on network servers, including multi-media CD-ROM resources. Internet access
will be available, in ICT suites and in the school’s libraries, but will
be carefully monitored. The school will use video-links and e-mail.
The school’s work in ICT is centred on four separate but inter-linking
areas:
1. The discrete teaching of ICT skills to pupils at both Key Stage 3 and Key
Stage 4 of the National Curriculum by specialist ICT teachers using both networked
and stand-alone computer hardware; pupils will work to gain certificates in
the CLAIT scheme. ICT lessons will be timetabled for all classes from Year 7
to Year 10 inclusive. This work will be led and managed by the Head of ICT.
ICT will form an important part also of the key skills package offered to sixth-formers
at St Peter’s.
2. The integration of ICT skills into subject curricula in both Key Stage 3
and Key Stage 4 subject schemes of work. Following recent government guidelines,
departments will develop ways in which the incorporation of ICT resources, methods
and practice will enhance the teaching and learning of subject matter and skills
related to work required by their own subjects. This work will be managed by
the Heads of Department. The school’s aim is that by September 2001, at
least 15% of a pupil’s lessons will use ICT as a means of teaching and
learning.
Heads of Department will be responsible for purchasing and managing appropriate
software; already department heads are researching into suitable software.
The English department, for example, wants to use specialist CD-ROM multi-media
resources to support work on Shakespeare at both Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4,
and to develop DTP for assignments in Year 8 and Year 11. Together with the
work of the Media Studies teachers in the sixth form, the English department
wants to enlarge the media facilities available to students, so that work with
the school’s digital photography equipment is more widespread and useful,
as is work using the scanner and DTP software. The production of media artefacts
to professional standards will be greatly helped by the provision of modern
software packages.
The Science department wants to explore possibilities of data-logging programmes;
Food Technology work will use CD-ROMS for research and other software for analysis;
the Modern Languages Department has begun a wide-ranging revision of resourcing
incorporating many texts and materials on CD-ROMs and other ICT packages.
Heads of Department will also be encouraging teachers and students to incorporate
presentation software into the work of lessons and sixth-form seminars. The
school has already invested in a laptop/ video projector for class demonstrations
and lectures.
3. The provision of opportunities for independent study using computers will
be greatly enhanced. Computer suites will be open longer hours, staffed and
supervised, and all members of the school from pupils of Year 7 to the students
of Year 13, as well as teaching and support staff, will be encouraged to make
use of the ICT facilities the school can make available. This will include Internet
and Intranet access, CD-Rom libraries and a range of appropriate software. In
the sixth-form especially, students will be encouraged to stay on after curricular
school hours, or even during holiday periods, to work on assignments and research
using these ICT resources.
4. ICT will play an increasingly large role in the school’s provision of
extra-curricular activities. The Sixth Form Librarian, with the help and support
of the English Department, for example, plans to relaunch a half-termly school
magazine using professional standard DTP software such as PageMaker or QuarkExpress
on Apple machines. The music department can offer ICT facilities for composition
and scoring, using an Apple Macintosh software system already installed.
3. OBLIGATIONS REQUIRED BY POLICY
i The ICT Co-ordinator should
co-ordinate the work of teachers in all departments, through liaison
with heads of department and/or departmental representatives, so that pupils
receive as wide an experience as possible of communication, information handling
and retrieval, modelling, and measurement & control;
manage the ICT lessons on the timetable to provide a sound foundation for ICT
work throughout the school;
ensure that the National Curriculum requirements regarding ICT are met by the
school and that there is clear progression in ICT competence within and through
the key stages;
develop appropriate use of ICT technologies which will support and enhance learning
across the curriculum, including, for example, the provision and management
of a school ‘intranet’;
ensure that ICT assessments are made and recorded in Key Stage 3 and that opportunities
for assessment of ICT capability are explicit in ICT -related subject tasks
throughout the school;
manage the integration of pupil’s home computer use with their school work,
especially but not only where these pupils have reached a high level of competence;
manage the provision of specific INSET for teachers as required.
The ICT Co-ordinator with the ICT Technician should
manage the day to day running of the school’s network and work-stations;
plan short- and long-term developments of the network resulting from departmental
requests;
meet regularly with a member of the school's SMT and with the Bursar to co-ordinate
long term plans for hardware and network expansion.
The ICT Technician should
support teachers in using computer hardware in lessons;
maintain the computer hardware throughout the school.
ii THE GOVERNORS should
recognise that the teaching and application of information technology
require expensive, specialist machines, and therefore ensure that the school
is as comprehensively provided with ICT equipment as funding allows;
ensure that staff development plans provide appropriate INSET which ensures
that ICT independence and the ability to use ICT effectively across the curriculum.
v Heads of Department should
be ‘pro-active’ in ensuring that ICT contributes to providing
the most effective learning experience for pupils;
co-operate with the ICT co-ordinator to manage the cross-curricular use and
development of ICT skills;
include in schemes of work appropriate and carefully managed opportunities for
pupils to employ ICT capability at KS3, KS4 and in the sixth form;
make specific reference in schemes of work to the ways in which ICT will support
teaching and learning, taking into account the specific ICT facilities the school
has made available;
clearly identify in the scheme of work the task which will provide an opportunity
for assessment of ICT capability during KS3;
provide the ICT co-ordinator with the results of the KS3 ICT assessments;
clearly identify in the scheme of work the tasks which students could use to
develop their KS4 ICT profile;
use ICT in the day-to-day running and management of the school’s departments,
eg in creating set-lists and in word-processing minutes and agendas.
vii Teachers should
master and use software appropriate for their subject;
support the ICT co-ordinator in helping pupils develop their ICT capability
when they undertake subject tasks which provide opportunities for using ICT;
assess pupils' ICT capability when teaching the KS3 task which has been identified
for assessment.
4. The execution of this policy shall be monitored by a committee
chaired by the Headteacher.