IT & ONLINE SAFETY recognised by Becta with an ICT Excellence Award for Support for Schools. Therefore, the consultancy support infrastructure offered by Havering was in a strong position with schools deciding that they wanted to continue this relationship as the support moved away from a centrally funded model to one where schools had increased choice over who to purchase their services from. At the same time, schools were increasingly in need of new curriculum materials as old QCA units were looking increasingly out of date. The Havering Computing and Online Safety team saw these as opportunities to address. Therefore, in 2010 Havering formed a partnership with publishers Rising Stars to develop Switched on ICT for primary and secondary schools. This provided all Havering schools with free learning materials and allowed Havering Education Services to receive a royalty for copies of the scheme sold elsewhere, thus helping to rebalance the affects to changes in core funding. NEW CURRICULUM, NEW CHALLENGE In 2013, the announcement of a new national curriculum for computing offered more opportunities to develop new products, services and income streams for Havering. As a subject, ICT was also strong whether taught discreetly or across the curriculum. This being the case, Havering had good foundations
for implementing the computing curriculum provide training that would suit all abilities, in 2014. That said, it was – and continues with some sessions repeated for beginners, to be – a challenge for many. The challenge intermediate and advanced users. At the heart has mainly been to develop teachers’ subject of all of the sessions is the development of knowledge sufficiently to feel confident teacher’s knowledge and understanding of the teaching the new content, specifically the subject as well as the hardware and software. computer science elements. To support this, We are not there yet, and we continue to Amanda and Dave have run many workshops, work together to make sure that the provision in schools and centrally at their state of in our schools is a good as it can be.” the art learning and development centre at CEME Campus, Rainham. These sessions have BRINGING INDUSTRIES TOGETHER concentrated on ways to teach the curriculum Andrea Carr, managing director of Rising Stars/ content as well as ideas for how to use some Hodder/Galore Park comments: “Our Switched new hardware and software schools are using. On Computing resources are a great example Amanda Jackson, Havering’s inspector of how publishing expertise and local authority for computing and online safety explains: and school expertise can come together to do “Focusing-on how to teach was helped by something fantastic. The team and schools in our existing partnership with Rising Stars; Havering helped to ensure that the resources we had worked together on Switched on were on the button in terms of content and ICT. Once we knew that computing was ease of use, and over 6,500 schools nationally coming we started working on Switched now use the resources to deliver a high quality on Computing. Primary schools in Havering computing curriculum to primary children. were right at the heart of the development And it’s a financial partnership too, so the and trialling of the resources, this included borough has been able to enjoy a revenue schools that were trailblazers as well as those stream as a result of their contribution. that classed themselves as relative novices. “I’m really proud of the work we have This gave us lots of ideas about how schools, done together and I hope that our new at all stages, would feel about the resource Switched On Online Safety resources, coming and where support would be required. in January 2017, will be just as successful.” “All schools in Havering use Switched on Alison Martin, computing and online safety Computing, but their expertise and strengths at Parklands Infant School, HUE PRO Business Magazineleader - September Issue ADVERT_ 86mm xHavering 125mm high all lay in different places. Our plan was to explains the value of working with E
Amanda Jackson, Havering inspector for computing and online safety
IT & Computing
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