Here at St James’, we are delighted to be supporting the development of our children’s IT skills through the provision of Chromebooks for all children who join us in Year 7. This is a rolling programme which began in September 2022 and will continue each year, providing the children of St James’ with a unique opportunity.
We are committed to excellence and the Chromebook scheme facilitates the following:
- To support and enhance teaching and learning within the classroom: this provides children with opportunities to be supported in their learning where additionality may be required or where they may need extra challenge
- Less reliance on textbooks and printing: this supports our eco agenda which is a whole school initiative making our approach to all aspects of school life more sustainable
- Use of appropriate websites to enhance learning: teachers can guide children with regard to how to navigate websites effectively and be judicious in their choice of information
- Developing use of IT skills including Google Drive: this is preparing children for their future careers, many of which will require competence in IT skills
- Submitting work more efficiently: children can use Satchel One for submitting work, this also integrates well with Google Drive meaning children can easily share work with their teachers
- Managing time more efficiently for example Google Quizzes: these can provide instant feedback and allow children to learn from their mistakes
The use of Google Classroom allows teachers to easily share resources with the children and the children can work on their own documents within the lesson, keeping all their notes and resources which they can then use to recap their learning or prepare for assessments. The possibilities are endless!
We are committed to the Continuing Professional Development of staff to ensure they are best placed to develop the skills of our children and we have a number who are currently engaged in qualifications to become a Google Certified Educator. This means they have demonstrated that they have a level of mastery using a wide variety of Google edtech tools in teaching and learning environments. In the long term, we would like to become a Google Reference School and this will be something we will continue to work towards. Google Reference Schools are recognised by Google for their outstanding use of technology to drive positive learning outcomes.
There are various resources available to support with the Chromebooks, including help with Satchel One, Google Classroom and lots of how to’s on the Chromebooks, please click on one of the links below:
We also take online safety seriously and all children must abide by our user guidelines that can be found here. Devices are monitored in school and at home using a platform called Smoothwall and this is monitored by members of the Senior Leadership Team, as we recognise the importance of keeping our children safe online. Children also cover online safety within the PSHCE curriculum, you can find more information here. More information regarding safeguarding at St James’ can also be found here.
