Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is an important part of the curriculum at the Old School. We are proud of our dedicated computer room which houses a suite of 10 networked PCs and which is available for the use of children from Reception to Year 6. ICT lessons are taught by an experienced specialist teacher and other members of the teaching staff use the room with their groups as appropriate for their subject needs.

All Years have one single designated ICT lesson per week in the computer room.
Reception, Y1, Y2 and Y3 have their ICT lessons in half class groups (where appropriate) allowing each pupil to have his/her own PC.

ICT is a powerful tool for teaching and learning. The possibilities for children to present their work in a variety of ways can increase motivation and enhance presentation. The power of spreadsheets and databases can reduce the need for tedious calculation and the manual drawing of charts and allow quick access to the important results of investigations. CD Roms and the World Wide Web offer unprecedented access to a wide variety of raw information as well as a great deal of specially constructed teaching material.

However, although most computer assisted learning (CAL) programs are fairly intuitive and easily picked up by children, the use of tools such as word processors, spreadsheets and presentation programs do need to be taught and therefore each child has a discrete weekly ICT lesson in addition to the opportunity to use the technology as part of the day to day school experience.

The aims of ICT at Henstead are:

· to give each child a thorough functional ability, including necessary keyboard skills, to use generic types of software (word processor, spreadsheet, database, graphics and presentational software, web browser, email client) at an appropriate level.
· to provide opportunities for children to choose the most appropriate software for a specific task
· to develop a critical awareness of the potentials and limitations of material on the WWW
· to make children aware of the dangers posed by inappropriate use of the WWW
· to provide an insight into the use of programmable computer software in controlling much of the technology in every day life
· to use ICT, including CAL packages where appropriate, to enhance the teaching and learning of specific topics
 

 
Year 2 pupil working on the computer

Year 2 pupils at work

Members of the Superclubs' TechTeam