In this article Julie Leigh, Co-ordinating Adviser - ICT Specialist, keeps us up to date on the latest developments and directs us to some useful resources

What’s New? Keeping up to date

During the last twelve months a number of key documents have been updated. Just in case you have missed any of these they are:

Internet Safety Pack - the team has produced an up to date pack that contains all the following recently updated documents. Governing Bodies have, in particular, appreciated having all these documents in one place. The pack can be ordered at a cost of £5 and includes:

·         a letter to accompany the most recent updating of a school ICT Policy

·         questions and prompts as well as example answers to use when developing or updating a school ICT Policy

·         an Acceptable User Policy for adults in schools as a possible appendix to a school ICT Policy

·         an E-Learning Code of Conduct for pupils

·         a sample letter to parents explaining the E-Learning Code of Conduct

·         an E-Learning Agreement which pupils and parents can sign to indicate their acceptance of the acceptable use of e-learning resources

·         an Internet Safety wall poster for display near computers in the school

·         primary and secondary guidelines for the accidental or deliberate misuse of e-learning resources in school

·         a parental permission form for the use of digital video in school

·         a list of useful Internet safety sites for teachers, pupils and parents

ICT Policy – the following sections have been substantially updated – H&S, Internet and e-mail, with minor changes throughout the document reflecting changes brought about by the introduction of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) – Digitalbrain  http://www.ict.oxon-lea.gov.uk/internet.html

ICT Development Plan – this document has been completely overhauled to match the Common Evaluation Framework (CEF) http://www.ict.oxon-lea.gov.uk/ICT_docs/ICT_DP_May_27_05.doc

The Common Evaluation Framework (CEF) is a document produced by DfES, HMI, Becta and NCSL – a must for all staff with any strategic responsibility for ICT.  To find this document go to the Digitalbrain Resource Management Database and choose to Search for Resources. Enter “CEF” or “Common Evaluation Framework” or even “Common” and you will find the document.

NB To log in to your Digitalbrain portal enter the internet address or URL for your school portal. This will be in the form of  http://subdomain.oxon.digitalbrain.com where the subdomain is the same as those used in OCN e-mail addresses. For example:

http://rush-common.oxon.digitalbrain.com

You will be taken to the OCN Single Sign On screen where you should enter your OCN username and password. If you do not know your OCN username or password please ask your school OCN administrator or ring the School Service Desk on 0845 052 1000 and they will be able to help you. You can find these instructions at http://www.ict.oxon-lea.gov.uk/Digitalbrain/index.html

New Interactive Whiteboard Resources are available from:
http://www.ict.oxon-lea.gov.uk/whiteboards.html  and the pages have recently been expanded to include Smart Notebooks for Spelling Bank, Grammar for Writing and Problem Solving Materials for Maths.

If your school has recently deployed IWBs it would be worth offering your colleagues some support in locating this time saving area and encouraging them to access both the new and old resources which include: More Able Maths Challenges, TES Brain Teasers, FLS Modules, Interactive Teaching Programme (ITP) tutorial booklets, etc.

Many of these resources are now also available via the Digitalbrain Resource Management Database where the advantage is that one can search for a particular resource e.g. Number Lines or search for SMART and it returns all SMART Notebook files.

Foundation Stage Resources – those of you who attended the Primary Conference will remember the Ourselves CD which was hot off the press. It costs £10 which includes many super ideas including: How do we keep healthy?  What do we look like? What can we hear? The CD has many other exciting ideas for the children. The next CD in the series has now been released. This time the theme is Transport and includes ideas such as: Where do we go? Transport Stories. How many are there? Controlling Vehicles, etc. If your Foundation Units do not yet have their copy I would recommend this as a must have.

The team are putting the finishing touches on a 105 page booklet entitled Logo across the Curriculum. This booklet will retail at £15 and was developed following last year’s data collection which indicated that Logo is one of the areas in greatest need of attention in Oxfordshire Primary schools.

Integrating ICT and Art – a 77 page colour booklet that shows clear progression in the development of ICT through Art, moving children well beyond just more Colour Magic in Year’s 5 and 6. This booklet costs £15, links with the Imagine Art project and includes clear lesson plans for work based around the following artists: Bridget Riley, Monet, Rousseau, Kandinsky, etc.

To place an order for any of our resources please fax an official school order form to Christine Ruane on 01865 428030.

RE Planning Matrix – the team has developed a very thorough matrix that illustrates exactly how to embed ICT into RE in Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism at KS1 and 2. It provides a variety of resources and teaching strategies and complements the Primary RE Handbook – New Patterns of Experience. It is made available for planning through the purchase of one traded service session with an Advisory Teacher who will tailor the matrix to match your school long term plans for RE.

AS level - materials are available to all secondary staff and students via your Digitalbrain portal. (See above for instructions on how to access Digitalbrain.) They include the following subjects: Business, English, French, Geography, History, Law, Psychology and Sociology.

DiDA - the team has developed a page on the ICT website to include links to all of the useful websites and resources currently available for the Edexcel DiDA qualification:

http://www.ict.oxon-lea.gov.uk/ks4/KS4_DIDA.html

Please let me know if you find any further resources that could be added to this page.

ICT Finance

It was previously announced in November 2004 (in the booklet ‘Schools Capital Investment for All’) that the DfES element of Grant 31a (Infrastructure and Hands on Support) would be included in Devolved Formula Capital (DFC) allocations from 2006-2007.

We understand that under the new schools funding arrangements for 2006-07 onwards ICT in schools funding (NGfL as was) will form part of the "enlarged" Schools Development Grant SDG which incorporates Schools Development Grant, EiC, Targeted Behaviour, Enterprise Learning, ASTs, Leading Edge and Gifted and Talented.

This overall allocation will be increased by 4%. Schools will receive an SDG based on the above grant allocations they received in 2005-06 plus 4% for 2006-07. They will receive this as a single allocation, which can then be deployed as schools see fit. The overall aim would most likely be that there would be an expectation that schools spend at least this year's Std Fund allocation (plus 4%) in 2006-07 on ICT.

Full details on all areas of ICT funding including e-Learning Credits are expected to be announced later in Term 1 or 2 (Autumn Term).

ICT Resources

Web Cache – Kathryn Proudlock from ICT Resources is leading the project to install web caches to all schools. This began with the roll out of caches to secondary schools in August this year and will be followed with primary and special schools during the forthcoming terms.

NB A web cache is a place where temporary copies of web content (such as web pages and graphics) are stored. This improves the speed and availability of web-based data to the end user.  Once one user has retrieved information from a website, another user requesting the same information is redirected to the web cache, instead of requesting the data from its original source, i.e. the web.  The same principle can be applied to caching media files.

The web caches being installed into schools will also provide an option for local web filter management which will enable each school, if they wish, to set its own web filtering policy.

Full information about the above can be found on the OCN Conference – which brings me to my final point. Increasingly, information is made available only through the OCN Conferences i.e. no paper copies are being sent into schools. Thus, it is vital that users have the best possible experience when browsing these conferences. Using the web based version of OCN email does not provide a good experience. Can Heads of ICT please support others more technically challenged by (a) showing them the potential of the First Class Client available as a free download from http://www.centrinity.com and (b) helping members of staff in your school install it and customise it. Finally, if secondary staff were to be able support their local primary schools in moving them to the Client we know that they will appreciate the different experience.

Julie Leigh

Co-ordinating Adviser – ICT Specialist

Notes on installing the Client are available on the OCN Conference by going to:

Everyone > OCN Help > OH User Guides

Alternatively the School Support Desk will talk you through the process.

Please telephone:
0845 052 1000