“The schools of the future will combine the best in teaching and learning with the latest in Information Communication Technology” Gordon Dryden “The Learning Revolution”

The above quote represent our aspiration as a school in giving our students access to the latest in technology within the context of effective learning.

To this end we have a well established intranet which is a major feature of the school and all lessons are online with resources a click of a button away. Online resources are of a particularly high quality thanks in no small part to our team of three full time web designers who work alongside teaching staff to produce them . The teaching intranet is meant largely as a resource for teachers.

More recently we have developed a Virtual Teaching and Learning Environment for student use – at present we use NorTLE (Northumberland Teaching and Learning Environment). This is where students access learning resources for use both in lessons and at home. Although not yet as well developed as our intranet it is nevertheless used widely within years seven and eight with the intention of building on this as students move through the school.

Across the whole school site students have good access to computers and in the Junior Learning Village in particular students have access on a ratio of two students per computer in every learning space. We have also equipped every room in the Junior Learning Village with access to video and still digital cameras as part of a “digital” toolkit to allow students to create resources as well as to make use of them. We will be re configuring spaces in the Senior Learning Village for September 2009 to give greater access to ICT to year nine through to thirteen.

This year we introduced two new aspects of ICT as a pilot in years seven and eight

1. Use of e –portfolios we use a web based product called “Real smart” which contains a number of web 2.0 tools such as Rafl (Real Assessment for learning) a teacher constructed e portfolio which allows students to upload and evidence work and Rweb a website creation tool which allows students to share their work with a wider audience. This is going well and students and staff are beginning to make good use of this. We will look to build on this experience as we prepare sow for year nine.

2. Piloting the use of online home learning In September we began a pilot of online home learning using Northumberland VLE. This is clearly the way forward and while some excellent examples of online home learning are in use, there have been a number of teething problems which still need to be sorted out. These include ensuring all students have access to computers before and after school and the continued need for additional training for students and staff on how best to make use of this feature of our VLE. A home learning review group (including both staff and students) has been set up and will report back in due course

We have a well established Managed Information System and parents can access information about their son or daughter online in the following areas: attendance; timetables; and review data. Parents can also email their sons/daughters teachers with any queries they may have.