ICT at Hazelwood

 

At Hazelwood School the children enjoy access to up to date computing facilities and software within a networked environment that encompasses all aspects of the school.

  

An increasing number of classrooms now have two computers and all classrooms from Oak to Year 8 have either interactive whiteboards or touch screen LCD panels. These boards allow for more interactive teaching in both ICT and across the curriculum.

  

The main ICT suite has 21 computers which are regularly upgraded and the room is available for all subjects and year groups to use. The increasing use of technology in all aspects of society makes ICT an essential life skill.

   

  

Years 3 to 5 have access to two pods of iPads in the Baily Building which are used for cross-curricular teaching sometimes as a camera or video camera, for internet research, for maths activities and a host of other interactive activities.

  

Years 6 to 8 are issued with a school iPad which is used to support teaching across the curriculum and are also taken home to allow the children to continue their work outside of the school environment. 

  

The main aim of the ICT department is to give every child a good practical experience of using computers and to make sure the skills being taught are relevant to their lives and they are intrinsically motivated to learn.

  

For example in Year 7 children have used block coding on code.org to produce simple programs and have created their own games on the BBC Micro:bits. 

  

We use ICT in all subjects but not in every lesson, ICT is a key aspect in children's education and at times teachers will use it to enhance their learning, at other times different teaching techniques will be used, this will depend on the topic and the teachers judgement.

Hazelwood are also committed to the Governments’ recommendations to encourage the development of programming skills. In the Early Years children use the Beebots and simple command and control robots as well as sites including busythings.co.uk to begin to develop their ICT skills. Children from Years 1 to 6 have a timetabled computing lesson (sometimes integrated with ICT) in which they cover use of python coding, Minecraft programming on the Raspberry Pi, Lego coding with WeDo kits and block coding using Scratch and code.org as a sample of the work we do. Years 7 and 8 include computing as part of their study skills scheme of work.

ICT is a fast developing aspect of the school with regular changes to the equipment and software provided for the children and their teaching. Watch for updates in the Nutshell and on Twitter https://twitter.com/hazelwoodoxted