ICT use at Oakgrove Integrated Primary School

Oakgrove Primary School logo Making animated movies, managing stock, keeping accounts and writing to ‘e pen’ friends are just some of the many applications of ICT at Oakgrove Integrated Primary & Nursery School in Londonderry. From nursery to Key Stage 2, teachers throughout the school are using ICT to complement traditional teaching methods.

Oakgrove school has almost doubled its core ICT entitlement under C2K, a clear indication that management recognise the benefits of technology in the classroom and are not just paying lip service to the notion.

With 452 pupils on the rolls, Oakgrove has a teaching staff of 21 (including a non teaching Principal and Vice Principal) and 21 part-time classroom assistants. In addition to the obligatory desktop computer, all teaching areas have an interactive whiteboard - 18 in all - and every teacher has a digital camera and DVD recorder in their classroom. There is a also a computer suite with 15 computers, 52 laptops in mobile trolleys, (and more on order), wireless hotspots that can be used throughout the school and a giant pull down screen in the assembly hall – which doubles up as a cinema for the popular movie nights organised by the parent teacher association.

Outlining some of the many ways ICT is used in the school, Primary 5 teacher and ICT co-ordinator at Oakgrove, Nial Gill says a number of factors have contributed to Oakgrove’s successful ICT track record, not least the vision and support of school principal Dr Anne Murray and her senior management team who have invested heavily in ICT resources and staff training for teachers and classroom assistants.

“Another very important cog in the wheel is Raymond Wray, the school’s caretaker who doubles up as the school ICT technician. He makes sure that everything runs smoothly, whether it’s helping to sort out email addresses, ‘log ins’, phoning C2K or installing software on the computers.

“The use of ICT in the classroom is still evolving which means a lot of changes for everyone in the school. Raymond’s expertise has helped teachers feel more confident and competent about using ICT in the classroom.”

ICT is integrated successfully into all aspects of curricular and extra curricular activities at Oakgrove. Staff make extensive use of ICT when planning and delivering classes, and also for their seemingly never ending administrative tasks. Electronic registrars were introduced earlier this year and teachers are currently being trained in the use of LearningNI, C2k’s online learning environment which will give access to a wide range of teaching support materials to use in the classroom.

During Creative Arts weeks (January 14 – 18 2008), each class was involved in a different project. This work was then shared with the rest of the school by projecting images and videos of each class project onto the giant screen during assembly.

Oakgrove places great importance on equipping all its children with the necessary life skills and special support is given to children with learning difficulties.

“ICT impacts on everyone so it’s important all the children at Oakgrove are equipped with the necessary skills. Software such as ‘Writing with Symbols is great for enabling children with special needs to do the same projects that the others are doing,” says Nial.

As teachers and pupils become more confident in the use of ICT, they have become involved in a variety of ambitious projects which is very much in keeping with the school’s stated aim of developing a ‘culture of creativity, innovation and teamwork for all’. Extensive use is made of basic software packages like Microsoft Word and PowerPoint for story writing (with sounds and animation), sharing research and presenting information. Staff and pupils work collaboratively on a variety of challenging multi media projects, for example the P5’s Greek mythology project which involved creating an animated film. Key Stage 2 children who help manage Oakgrove’s ‘healthy eating options’ tuck shop use Excel spreadsheets to monitor their stock and cashflow.

Under the auspices of ‘Dissolving Boundaries through Technology in Education’, Oakgrove was linked with Killavil National School in Co. Sligo and children from both schools collaborated on a story strip during regular videophone sessions, messaging each other through the Dissolving Boundaries forum, as well as creating and editing their own web pages.

Early in 2008 children in primary 3 established contact with pupils at Springlake Elementary in New Jersey and they are now writing to their ‘e pals’ to find out what life is like on the other side of the Atlantic.

Learning at Oakgrove is not just restricted to during the school day and all the children are encouraged to access the school’s website http://www.oakgroveschool.co.uk from home.

“We have changed how we use the website to make it more useful and appealing to the children. As a result there has been a big increase in the number of hits outside of school hours,” says Nial.

The website has different class areas with links to other websites to help the children with English, Maths and project work, as well as games. There is also information on the website for parents about school policies and forthcoming events at the school.

According to Nial, while it has been challenging for staff to have ICT embedded in all aspects of the school life, the results have been very rewarding.

“We are fortunate to have a very supportive management team, who recognise the importance of continuing professional development for all and a staff (teachers and classroom assistants) who are willing to engage with ICT, which helps us get the most of the excellent ICT facilities we have at Oakgrove.

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