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Technology-savvybright sparks put ICTin the spotlight
Bright Sparks from Head of Muir primary school havebeaten off competition from more than 100 schoolsacross the country to make the shortlist for Becta’snational ICT Excellence Awards.Becta, the government agency leading the use oftechnology in learning, organises the awards whichrecognise and reward those schools that have shownhow technology can be imaginatively used to enhancelessons and support all school activities.This year, despite introducing even stricter criteria,schools demonstrated a noticeably higher standardwhich has made judging and the shortlisting processeven tougher than in previous years. In the face ofstiff competition, Head of Muir Primary school managedto impress the judges by showcasing their ideas andmethods of incorporating technology into the heart ofschool life.Niel McLean, Becta’s executive director, explained:“This year we’ve been so impressed to see suchinspiring and enthusiastic use of ICT. Head of Muirprimary school has really invested their time and effortinto putting technology at the core of their everydayactivities.“This is certainly the way forward and I’m sureeveryone connected with the school –teachers,learners and parents - will all benefit from the rewards
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I.C.T. Curriculum Support
Newsletter - September 2009Issue 16
 
ECDL Congratulations
Congratulations to Maria Esther Franco-Ramos,visiting specialist PE teacher, who is the latest tohave been presented with her certificate forsuccessfully passing the ECDL. This was throughcompleting the ECDL for Educators course offered atCamelon Education Centre. The ECDL for Educatorscourse is an internationally-accredited certificatedICT Skills Course tosupport Learning andTeaching in the classroom.If you are interested inworking towards the ECDLthen contact your CPDco-ordinator for details ofthe ECDL for EducatorsCourse offered atCamelon EducationCentre.that technology can bring,whether that’s through bettermonitoring of pupils’ progress,building links with the home ormaking lessons more exciting.”Daniel Barrie added: “We’rethrilled to have beenshortlisted. It’s a fittingreflection of the dedication shown by our teachers andpupils. We are absolutely committed to usingtechnology in exciting and innovative ways to ensureour pupils progress and achieve their full potential,and, most importantly, enjoy their learning.”The outcome of the entry will be announced at thenational awards ceremony being held in Bristol on 19November.
Curriculum for Excellenceand the Falkirk VirtualTeacher Centre
The staff area of the VTC is now a place for Falkirkschools to share some of the things they are doing toplan, build and deliver the new curriculum. The addressis:http://www.falkirkvtcstaff.org.uk/Please share some of the practice that is taking placein your class or school. We are also looking for minicase studies of specific examples of CfE topics fromEarly Years, Primary and Secondary. A simple A4 pagedescription and a few photographs will suffice. Theheadings that follow might be a useful guide:* Focus* Introduction* Description of school / class* Description of what took place* Ways in which it benefits staff/pupils* Next stepsSubmissions should be emailed tomargaret.vass@falkirk.gov.ukand willbe shared on the relevant pages of theVTC.
 
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I.C.T. Curriculum Support
Newsletter - September 2009Issue 16
Securing the Future
Beginning in September 2009 Internet Filtering inFalkirk Council Education establishments will move to anew product. This new product, Sophos Web Securityand Control, is a third generation web filter, which willallow us to more proactively filter Internet content.Sophos is currently used in the Corporate network inFalkirk Council and has proved successful in identifyingand reducing security issues and other online threats.We hope to have moved most schools over to the newfilter by October of this session; however some schoolsmay need some additional work to their infrastructurein order to move over to the new system.
Free Online tools
Here are some free online tools which you may finduseful. As with many online tools please do try themout and assure yourself of their suitability for use withthe groups you teach before using with pupils.www.poetrypicture.com/writeit.aspxorwww.piclits.comfor visual stimulus for writing. Simplydrag words and arrange on a photograph. You canchange tense easily or make plural or singular with aclick. Thought-provoking images help to stimulatesome great writing from pupils.www.xtranormal.comfor easily creating dialogue videosof characters speaking (includes text to speech facilityso you can drag and drop text from existing documentsinto dialogue boxes and the characters will speak it outloud). Can be used to bring to life documents, reports,or stories where you are in control of characters andtheir movement, the backgrounds, and the cameraangles – all for free and with no downloads required.www.tutpup.com- a maths/language resource wherepupils compete with peers online from around theworld in maths or language quickfire tests. Great funand highly engaging for pupils who love online gamingagainst others.www.sumopaint.comonline and free software artpackage – includes a super range of art tools and filtersto create artwork or to adapt existing photographs tobecome more interesting.
ICT in Action at the ICT inEducation Fair
There is always an air of excitement about the ICT inEducation Fair when over 400 staff enjoy the chance tosee over 70 displays from secondary, primary, specialand pre-school establishments and when many pupilsare also on hand to enthuse about the work they aredoing. The event, held at Carronvale HouseConference Centre, was organised by the ICTCurriculum Support team as a celebration of successfuluse of ICT in learning and teaching and as a platformfor sharing the many ways in which ICT supports thecurriculum. The following gives a brief description ofthe work which was demonstrated – and those providingthe displays will be delighted if their work inspiresothers to use ICT in different ways in their learning andteaching.This event was sponsored by
SMART technologies
, who werealso on hand to providedemonstrations of the latestversion of the SMART Notebook software for the SMARTBoard (now available in all of our schools). They alsodemonstrated the use of SMART Response voting tools,a visualiser and the SMART Airliner, a tablet to remotelycontrol the computer.
Don’t switch off at the wall!
Please remember not to switch off computers atthe wall because this stops ICT Support Engineersusing remote access for support and computermaintenance tasks. Users should only shut downthe computer but not switch off the switch at thewall socket.
 
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I.C.T. Curriculum Support
Newsletter - September 2009Issue 16As part of the ICT in Education Fair school seniormanagement teams enjoyed two hour-longpresentations, on effective use of SMART Boards andpupil response tools, by Anne Forrest (SMARTTechnologies), Colin Meikle (Larbert High School),Louise Morrison (Bo’ness Academy) and Jane Crerar(Dunipace Primary School).If you are inspired to find out more about any of thework displayed then do contact the ICT CurriculumSupport team at Camelon Education Centre.There was an impressive range of displays, manychoosing to give a flavour of work from across allstages, while others highlighted particular activities.
Airth Primary School
showed the use of desktoppublishing skills in pupil-created tourism leaflets.
Antonine Primary School
displayed digital moviecreator work from P1 which provided a visualintroduction to what children can expect to see as theycome into P1.
Avonbridge Primary School
highlighted their use of aninteractive French blog, as well as Comic Life software,and Talking Stories.B
ainsford Primary School
concentrated on showingexamples of literacy across learning from a P1 video toa P6/7 blog.
Bankier Primary School
demonstrated how they usedvideo for peer evaluation of talking and listening.
Beancross Primary School
showed how they usedPowerpoint to support various social subjects as well asin creating an interactive yearbook.
Dates for the diary
The following courses are being provided at Camelon Education Centre. Places will be limited so please book earlythrough your CPD Co-ordinator. Please make sure your CPD Co-ordinator makes the booking with McLaren House.• Getting started with a SMART Board - Thursday 10 September, 4-6pm• Creating resources with SMART Response Tools and SMARTBoard to support AifL - Thursday 17 September, 4-6pm• Getting to grips with Microsoft Word - Thursday 17 September, 4-6pm• To Blog or Not to Blog – Find out if Class Blogging is for You- Monday 28 September, 4-6pm• Online primary music SMART Board resources - Tuesday 29 September, 1.30pm – 3.30pm• Easy-pc bits and bobs - a look at the most-requested primary classroom ICT devices - Thursday 1 October, 4-6pm• Video-editing using Windows Movie Maker - Tuesday 20 October, 1.30pm – 3.30pm• What on earth is a Mail Merge? - Wednesday 21 October, 4-6pm• Blogging with Primary Blogger – An Introduction to Setting up a Class Blog - Monday 26 October, 4-6pm• Projecting with PowerPoint - Monday 2 November, 4-6pm• Making simple ideas come alive on a SMART Board - Wednesday 4 November, 9am-3.30pm• So you want to know how all those new tools on the SMART Board work? - Thursday 12 November, 4-6pm• Excelling in Excel - Wednesday 18 November, 4-6pm• Taking Your Class Blog Further – Exploring Activity Ideas and Available Tools - Wednesday 25 November, 4-6pm• Worksheets in Word - Wednesday 25 November, 4-6pm• Creating resources with SMART Response Tools and SMARTBoard to support AifL - Thurs 26 Nov., 9am -12 noon• Introduction to the Internet - Thursday 10 December – 4-6pm• Digi-blue+maths=active learning (creating stop-motion animations and primary maths) - Thurs 21 Jan., 4-6pm• Publications in Publisher - Thursday 21 January – 4-6pm• Easy multimedia gaming for collaborative story-writing with SMART Board software - Thurs 28 January, 4pm-6pm• An Introduction to Digital Storytelling Using Windows Movie Maker and Audacity - Tuesday 9 February, 4-6pm• Using 21st Century Learning Tools to Motivate Pupils - Tuesday 16 February, 4-6pm• Personal Online Learning Spaces for Pupils – An Introduction - Monday 1 March, 4-6pm• Animation and Comic Strip Creation Using Online Tools - Tuesday 18 March, 4-6pm• Digital Storytelling Across the Curriculum Using Online Tools - Tuesday 20 April, 4-6pm• Personal Online learning Spaces for Pupils – A ‘Hands-on’ Event - Tuesday 27 April, 4-6pm
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