Home School Partnership

At High Halden CE Primary School, the teachers believe that to deny children easy access to ICT is to deny them a vital tool for learning. 

Harnessing the enthusiasm for electronic engagement

Many of today's children spend extensive amounts of recreational time playing computer games. These games undoubtedly increase their reactions and desire to win and, sometimes, concede defeat. High Halden is harnessing this enthusiasm for electronic engagement and using it to support learning in all areas of the curriculum. 

Parents fully involved in their children's work

We wanted every child to have access to their own Tablet PC both at home and school. Our aim is to expand the home learning scheme so that parents can be fully involved in their children's work, and the learning platform portal is a natural extension of this project. Children will use their personal online learning spaces to store their work and this opportunity invites a dedicated, personalised e-portfolio for every child

With this vision in mind, we looked at our budget to see how much we could allocate to the computers. We then applied for a grant from the e-Learning Foundation and invited support from parents. As part of the presentation to parents, we emphasised a suggested amount with an appreciation for contributions to support the initiative. Parental support would make the scheme fully sustainable for some years to come.

Such was the support and enthusiasm for the scheme that the head teacher was treated to a round of applause! 

Lessons supported with Tablet PCs are now commonplace in Key Stage 2 lessons. Feedback from parents and children has been thoroughly positive.  Apparently children are arriving home and getting on with their homework before reaching for the remote control for the television.apparently an unprecedented event!

With thanks to Mrs A-M Trustram, Headteacher at High Halden, for this article.

Retrun to ARC main page

Small Schools - Ambitious Plans Within the ARC, a significant number of schools are both small and rural. Find out how new technologies are helping to bring these schools, the staff and pupils closer together, enhancing learning and improving communications.