ST FRANCIS CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL in Milford Haven has been named as one of 50 educational institutions that are using making the best use of education technology in the UK, as part of the Edtech 50 Schools initiative.
The Edtech 50 Schools initiative is a celebration of the work going on in schools across the UK that use education technology to support teaching and enhance learning. Edtech 50 Schools is supported by Intel, Jisc, NetSupport and in partnership with the Chartered College of Teaching, Independent Schools Council and TES. It highlights digital flagship schools who demonstrate a focused sense of what is useful to them in terms of technology – whether it be in supporting teaching, cutting teacher workload, collaboration across staff teams or consolidating knowledge, enhancing creativity and broadening experiences across the curriculum.
Developing the use of ICT and helping the school community to become digitally literate is a priority for St Francis Catholic Primary School. It was the first in Wales to achieve the gold award of the Welsh Second Language Charter; one of the targets for which is ICT based. St Francis Catholic Primary School has devised a project where Welsh and ICT have been brought together, enabling staff and pupils to become competent Welsh digital learners. As well as providing an indoor learning environment by creating ‘Y Stiwdio’, effective use of Skype is made in classrooms to support Welsh speaking with classes across the county. More generally, pupils are fully involved in peer support through a Digital Leaders scheme. They were even tasked with evidencing their own impact using OneNote to store evidence for the gold award. Through Clwb HWB, parents are also engaged in improving their digital skills, including a chat of the month competition – Sgwrs y Mis. From the teachers’ perspective, staff are increasingly buying into to the positive impacts of technology, whether through sharing good practice, reducing workloads or developing a whole school planning tool in OneNote.
One judge commented: “The use of technology to develop immersive language is of a high quality. The school is clearly outward looking as they share their knowledge and application of educational technology with others.”
Kirsty Williams AM, Minister for Education, said: “I am truly delighted that Welsh schools have been recognised as part of the Edtech 50, as a result of their hard work in embracing the digital challenge.
“As part of our National mission for education in Wales, we have committed to provide our learners with high-level digital skills. I want all of our learners to grow up to be digitally competent, allowing them to evolve into enterprising, creative and critical thinkers, giving them best chance in life. That’s why we’ve made digital competence a key part of our exciting new curriculum, due to roll out in 2022.
“There is much happening in Wales to support this commitment, including The Digital Competence Framework (DCF), the Hwb learning platform, our ‘Cracking the Code’ programme, and the new online personalised assessments. Additionally, the Technocamps programme gives our learners the opportunity to develop computational thinking and coding skills, inspiring them to consider a future in computer science, and beyond.
“We are also aware that increased digital connectivity comes with its risks. That’s why we’ve introduced our Online Safety Action Plan, that outlines the work we’re undertaking to enhance online safety in Wales to keep our children and young people safe, and ensure they have the skills they need to live safely and successfully in the 21st Century.”
