Greenway School
Policy Document
Information and
Communications Technology
1.
Introduction
This document
is a statement of the aims, principles, strategies and procedures for the use
of Information and Communications Technology throughout the school.
2.
The
distinctive contribution of information and communication technology to the
school curriculum.
(Source: SCAA: draft
proposals for the National Curriculum, June 1999)
Information
and communication technology (ICT) contributes to the school curriculum by
preparing all children to participate in a rapidly changing society in which
work and other forms of activity are increasingly dependent on ICT. The subject
develops pupils’ information skills, including the ability to use information
sources and ICT tools to help them find, explore, develop, analyse, exchange
and present information and to support their problem solving, investigative and
expressive work. An essential part of ICT capability is being discriminating
about information and the ways in which it may be used, and making informed
judgements about when and how to apply aspects of ICT to achieve maximum
benefit. Pupils also develop understanding of the implications of ICT for
working life and society. The use of ICT significantly enhances teaching and
learning in other subjects by enabling rapid access to knowledge, information
and experiences from a wide range of sources. The use of ICT throughout the
curriculum encourages critical thinking, imagination and creativity, problem
solving, initiative and independence, teamwork and reflection.
Through the
use and teaching of ICT the school aims to:
·
Meet
National Curriculum requirements in ICT;
·
Help other
curriculum areas achieve National Curriculum requirements through the support
of ICT;
·
Allow staff
and children to gain confidence in, and enjoyment from, the use of ICT.
·
Allow
children to develop specific ICT skills as set down in the school’s scheme of
work;
·
Ensure that
staff and children alike understand the capabilities and limitations of ICT and
gain insight into the implications of its development for society;
·
Allow
teaching staff to develop professionally by enhancing their teaching skills,
management skills and administrative skills.
·
Support all
trainee teachers in their use of ICT in the curriculum as part of their Initial
Teacher Training in accordance with ‘Qualifying to Teach: Professional Standards for Qualified Teacher
Status and Requirements for Initial Teacher Training’ DfES, 2002
3.
Principles
for the teaching and learning of ICT
With limited
ICT resources available in each classroom, it is essential that the
organisation of those resources be such that there is a demonstrable equality
of access. This is achieved by adopting the following organisational and
pedagogical strategies as appropriate to the activity being taught:
·
Planning
activities that allow sufficient time for all individuals to take part.
·
Effective
teaching input (whole class, group or individual) to allow completion of task
without further teacher intervention.
·
Planning
short, time limited, skills focused activities.
·
Identify
clear learning objectives in planning and teacher input.
·
Working
individually, in pairs, or in small groups.
·
Splitting
larger projects into clearly defined pieces with different groups or
individuals taking on responsibility for specific parts,
·
Clear
instructions in the event of being “stuck” or equipment failure (e.g. use of
class “experts”).
·
Allow
opportunities for work to be printed for display, evidence, publishing on the
school web site etc.
4.
Acceptable
Use Statement
The computer system is owned by the school, and may be used
by children to further their education and by staff to enhance their
professional activities including teaching, research, administration and
management.
The school recognises that technologies such as the Internet
and e-mail will have a profound effect on children’s education and staff
professional development in the coming years and the school’s Internet Access
Policy has been drawn up accordingly.
The installation of software or hardware unauthorised by the
school, whether legitimately licensed or not is expressly forbidden.
The
school reserves the right to examine or delete any files that may be held on
its computer systems or to monitor any Internet sites visited.
5.
Internet
Access Policy Statement
·
All Internet
activity should be appropriate to staff professional activities or the
children’s education;
·
Access is
limited to the use of authorised accounts and passwords, which should not be
made available to any other person; All teaching staff, admin staff and trainee
teachers have a Internet username and password that gives them a ‘filtered’
Internet access. Children have a shared class Internet log in which gives them
a ‘whitelist’ (walled garden) Internet access. All Internet access is monitored
by the ICT coordinator and ICT Technical Support assistant. Any inappropriate
access will be directly and immediately reported to the Headteacher or member
of the Senior Management Team.
·
The Internet
is available to teaching staff on a 24/7 basis.
·
Activity
that threatens the integrity of the school’s computer systems, or that attacks
or corrupts other systems, is prohibited;
·
Users are
responsible for all e-mail sent and for contacts made that may result in e-mail
being received. Due regard should be paid to the content. The same professional
levels of language should be applied as for letters and other media;
·
Use for
personal financial gain, political purposes or advertising is excluded;
·
Copyright of
materials must be respected;
·
Posting
anonymous messages and forwarding chain letters is excluded;
·
The use of
the Internet, e-mail, or any other media to access inappropriate materials such
as pornography, racist or any other offensive material is forbidden.
6.
Internet
Publishing Statement
The school
wishes the school’s web site to reflect the diversity of activities,
individuals and education that can be found at Greenway School. However, the
school recognises the potential for abuse that material published on the
Internet may attract, no matter how small this risk may be. Therefore, when
considering material for publication on the Internet, the following principles
should be borne in mind:
·
No video
recording may be made or published without the written consent of the
parents/legal guardian of the child concerned, and the child’s own verbal
consent.
·
Surnames of
children should not be published, especially in conjunction with photographic
or video material.
·
No link
should be made between an individual and any home address (including simply
street names).
·
Where the
person publishing material suspects that there may be child protection issues
at stake then serious consideration must be taken as to whether that material
may be published or not. In the case of a simple piece of artwork or writing,
this may well be fine, but images of that child should not be published. If in
doubt, refer to the person responsible for child protection.
·
No material
may be published on the school web site without approval of the ICT
co-ordinator.
·
Use
of Portable Equipment
The school
provides portable ICT equipment such as laptop computers, tablet computers,
Voting Systems, Intel Microscopes and digital cameras to enhance the children’s
education and to allow staff to make efficient use of such equipment to enhance
their own professional activities.
Exactly
the same principles of acceptable use apply as in section 6 and 7 above.
·
Equipment
may be in the care of a specific individual, but it is expected that all staff
may wish to benefit from the use of a laptop computer and access should be
negotiated with the individual concerned. Any difficulties should be reported
to the ICT co-ordinator;
·
Certain
equipment (e.g. digital camera) will remain in the ICT resource area, and may
be booked out for use according to staff requirements. Once equipment has been
used, it should be returned to the resource area;
·
Equipment
such as laptop computers are encouraged to be taken offsite for use by staff in
accordance with the Acceptable Use Statement and Internet Access Policy.
·
Equipment
used in conjunction with a school-approved excursion does not require the
signing of such a disclaimer.
·
Any costs
generated by the user at home, such as phone bills etc. are the responsibility
of the user.
·
Where a
member of staff is likely to be away from school through illness, professional
development (such as secondment etc.) arrangements must be made for any
portable equipment in their care to be returned for school. In the event of
illness, it is up to the school to collect the equipment if the individual is
unable to return it.
7.
Data
Protection Act
Any individual
has the right in law to view information held about him or her on a computer
system. Care should be taken about any sensitive information concerning child
protection issues etc. If a report is composed and printed on the system, it
should immediately be deleted and hard copies kept in the appropriate files in
the care of the Child Protection Officer.
8.
Care
of Equipment
The individual
in whose care it is trusted should maintain all ICT equipment in a clean and
serviceable state.
·
All
equipment should be switched off at the end of the working day. The ICT Support
Room is the exception to this rule.
·
Any
technical fault should be reported immediately to the ICT co-ordinator or ICT
Technical Support
·
The use of
solvent cleaners and polishes is not allowed without express permission from
the ICT co-ordinator.
9.
Role of the ICT Co-ordinator (including other
teachers that are part of the ICT Curriculum Team) and Technical Support
Assistant
Due to the recent appointment of a
Technical Support Assistant, much of the workload that the coordinator has been
doing will be gradually transferred to the Support Assistant. This work will be
predominantly of a technical nature. The ICT coordinator and their curriculum
team will be responsible for Curriculum Issues (marked (ICTCo)).
The
responsibilities include:
·
Maintenance
of an ICT policy that reflects current technology and attitudes. (ICTCo)
·
Maintenance
of a Scheme of Work that reflects current resources, National Curriculum, staff
and child skills etc. (ICTCo)
·
Monitoring
of implementation of the Scheme of Work throughout the school including issues
such as equality of access, planning and assessment etc. (ICTCo)
·
Organisation
and distribution of hardware and software throughout the school.
·
Maintain
central resources (audited annually) such as software masters, digital cameras,
control and monitoring equipment in an organised and accessible manner.
·
Maintain the
network software infrastructure including the addition and deletion of users,
e-mail accounts, new software etc.
·
To maintain
secure backup routines on the fileserver.
·
Plan and
implement INSET programmes according to staff needs, as agreed with the
Headteacher.
·
Provide an
annual action plan and financial plan for the maintenance and development of
the school’s ICT resources.
·
Ensure that
Health and Safety guidelines in ICT are followed, including
- Setting up and moving equipment;
- Establishing appropriate working
conditions;
- Ensuring electrical safety checks are
carried out by the relevant authority.
·
To liaise
with other curriculum co-ordinators regarding the purchase of resources for
their subject area.
·
To maintain
a portfolio of ICT work carried out by children throughout the school and in
all areas of the curriculum.
·
To provide
support in the delivery of the school’s Scheme of Work through monitoring,
advice, provision of sample lessons and activities etc according to the needs
of the individual member of staff. This will include reporting to the
Headteacher when appropriate.
·
To monitor
new developments in ICT (through the attendance of appropriate INSET) and
integrate these into action plans, schemes of work and policies where
appropriate.
·
To liaise
with the shadow co-ordinator, especially in the area of network maintenance to
ensure that the integrity of the system is not threatened in the event of
illness, staff departure etc.
10.
Planning, Recording, Assessment and Monitoring.
Each year group must provide separate long term, medium term and weekly plans for ICT according to the school’s planning policy. These should reflect the Scheme of Work and clearly identify ICT learning objectives and pedagogical organisation. Staff should also explicitly identify where ICT is being used to support other subjects within that subject’s planning. Copies of these plans will be monitored by the ICT co-ordinator.
The school is beginning to develop a portfolio of ICT work. This work will be stored in a virtual format and made available to view over the school network. Some work may be published on the Internet.
All children will be assessed on entry for their current ICT attainment. The assessment will give the form of an ACTIVote quiz and will give an indicative National Curriculum Level for each child. A follow up assessment will also take place at the end of each school Year for all year groups. Data analysis will identify strengths and weaknesses. This assessment data will be shared with the Senior Management Team and the assessment coordinator and ICT targets will be agreed. A summary report will also be presented to the Governors annually.
It is the aim of the school’s portfolio to record progression throughout the school.
Reporting to parents is achieved
through parent consultation meetings, which take place throughout the year. An
annual report, within each child’s school report, will focus upon attitudes of
the child to their ICT skills and competence in a variety of applications.
Ó
Matthew Ayling & Debby Wigham June 2005
Greenway
School
(Based on Lum School
ICT Policy
http://www.icteachers.co.uk/resources/resources_ict.htm#Development%20Plans%20and%20NGFL%20Bids)