Outstanding ICT in action

We may not know what the future holds, but at Westfields Junior School in Yateley, Joe Carter finds staff who stridently refuse to leave the

A confident hand pushes up the two sliding volume controls on the radio mixing desk.

“Hello, I am Olivia.”

“And I’m Theo.”

“This is WJS S’Cool Radio and today we’re talking to…” Olivia stops and looks at me. “What’s your name?”

I tell her who I am and she makes a note on her sheet of questions.

“It’s OK,” says Theo. “We can edit that bit out and start again.” And we do.

I’m being interviewed for Westfields Junior School’s radio station and can forgive its young presenters for not remembering who I am. When you consider their previous interviewee was Jacqueline Wilson, I just don’t have the celebrity chops.

The radio station occupies a dedicated room, is supported by an ICT technician and represents a considerable investment for the school. But it is by no means an impulse buy. The school makes ICT purchases on a three year cycle, during which time potential expenditure is debated among staff, trialled by the pupils and scrutinised for sustainability. Most of all, new technology has to respond to the school’s needs.

“We’ve only bought equipment that we feel will have the biggest impact on children’s learning,” explains headteacher, Karine George. “When we analysed our data we discovered that speaking and listening was something we wanted to develop. The radio station was a creative way for us to address this.”

A daily radio show is broadcast between 12-1pm, hosted by pupils who seem at ease manipulating the large bank of buttons and dials. However, there are cheaper ways to be a DJ and I wonder why the school has gone to such lengths when children could simply record podcasts on a laptop? For head of Y5, Natalie Wallace, it’s a matter of motivation. “I have a group of boys who need help to stay focused in class, but when I gave them the opportunity to produce a radio advert they became different children”, she recalls. “They wrote a rap using persuasive language and recorded this as a jingle. Without the authentic equipment and the opportunity to work with our ICT technician, I don’t think they would have seen it as a ‘real’ experience. They wouldn’t have invested in the project in the same way.”

That the radio room is in high demand is indicative of both its popularity with pupils, and teachers’ willingness to integrate new technology into their lessons. For headteacher Karine George, this epitomises the school’s approach to ICT: “From the start our vision has been simple. It’s about technology having the greatest impact on children’s learning as well as enabling the school to run efficiently. When we introduce new technology we always ask two things. Is it easy for teachers, parents, governors and all stakeholders to use? And does it help to prepare children for the real world?”

Everyone gets IT

At Westfields, ICT is woven into the fabric of every classroom. There is no ICT suite to speak of as the school believes children should have access to technology when and where they need it.

Although the school has an ICT coordinator, Lawrence Britt, he is not leading a discrete subject but supporting the rest of the staff in developing the confidence to use ICT across the curriculum. In Lawrence’s words, “It’s about presenting new tools