Why do we teach Information and Communication Technology?

The convergence of Information technology and Communication has contributed significantly to our changing lifestyle. Today you can surf the internet from a mobile phone, do the shopping, and transfer funds or pay bills from your home computer. You can carry 4000 songs in your back pocket and have access to the Smithsonian Library from your bedroom. Technology has changed the way we live, work and play.

Never before has a student had such unlimited access to so much information. Students need to learn how to manage it all - how to get hold of information, store it, tailor it to their own needs, and present it in a suitable form to others.

Confident, creative and productive use of ICT is an essential skill for life. At the Alice Smith School, ICT is taught as a core subject to all students at KS3 and is an option at KS4 and 5.

Staffing

Curriculum Organisation

Key Stage 3 (core)

At Key Stage 3, students have one hour of discrete ICT lessons per week. Students are exposed to the basics of Internet research, presentation of information, data manipulation, control technology and graphics. Applications used include: Word-processing, Desk top publishing, Spread sheets, Databases, Control Technology, 2-D CAD, Web authoring and of course the Internet.

ICT – Key Stage 4 & 5 (option)

ICT is offered as an option in Key Stage 4 and the sixth form. The focus is on problem solving and developing software specific solutions. Students explore a range of applications and develop an understanding of the impact of ICT and the Internet on our lives.

ICT facilities @ EP

The ICT facilities at the Equine Park campus continue to be developed every year. The school is committed to a 4 year replacement policy to ensure students will always have access to up-to-date hardware and software. At present there are close to 300 pc's on the EP network. The network infrastructure of the campus is based on a fibre optic backbone and is distributed via 100mbps UTP. The campus has a dedicated internet connection, which is distributed across the network.

Several centralised network servers are used to ensure the continued availability of ICT resources across the campus. Each student has an individual login ID and password. Student's work is stored centrally in the network for reasons of safety and security and this data is backed-up regularly.

All computers on the site are running Windows XP Professional. The main applications used are MS Office 2003, MS Publisher, MS FrontPage and Corel Draw.

ICT Labs

Equine Park now boasts of four dedicated ICT suites, each equipped with 25 - Pentium 4 pc's, a digital scanner, networked black and white / colour laser printers and overhead LCD projectors.

Small clusters of computers in the other teaching faculties and classrooms further support the use of ICT across the curriculum.

Every classroom is equipped with ceiling mounted LCD projector and at least one networked computer.

The library is also equipped with clusters of computers with the emphasis on research via the internet or multimedia CD-ROMs.

In the Lecture theatre, a Sympodium provides a tablet like interface enabling the presenter to project a mini theatre sized interactive presentation to the audience.

The Intranet

The school intranet has been developed as a means to support independent learning. Each faculty continues to contribute and develop the intranet with resources for both students and staff to use. The intranet offers a wide range of resources such as specific curriculum materials including tasks, exemplar material, past exam papers, revision guides, theory notes, interactive lessons and downloadable resources. The intranet is accessible from all computers on the network.

The Extranet

Most of the resources held on the intranet has also been made available on-line in the form of an extranet, a secure website. Students can gain access to the extranet from wherever they are by providing a username and password. The extranet provides our students with access to a wide range of teaching and learning resources when they are working from home.

Parents too can log into the extranet to gain an insight into the work that is being done in the various subject in school.

Targets for every student:

Every student will make progress at different rates however there is an expectation that by the end of Key Stage 3. Students should be able to:

• Be responsible and autonomous users of ICT.
• Use information from a range of sources to improve their work.
• Use ICT to present ideas in different ways to suit different audiences.
• Make up sequences of computerised instructions to carry out different tasks.
• Use models to make predictions and be able to test their predictions to check their accuracy.
• Discuss the impact of ICT on themselves and on society.
• Use appropriate ICT to find, process and share information.