STEM BURSARY Final Report
School: Pond Park Nursery School, Lisburn
Principal/Teacher awarded STEM Bursary: Lois Wilson
Professional Development Activity: Visit to Homerton Children’s Centre,
Cambridge (ICT Centre of Early Excellence)
Date of Visit: 23-24 Sept 2010
Development activity undertaken:
When drawing up the three-year School Development Plan in Sept 2009
following a brief audit, the need to develop ICT in its broadest sense as an
integral aspect of the daily continuous provision was identified. The need to have
a computer in each classroom was to be a priority but the staff wanted to extend
their understanding of how ICT could develop creativity, enquiry and exploration
in young children’s learning experiences.
Outcome in terms of improved practice by the teacher:
Being given the opportunity to visit the centre in Cambridge and to spend two
days observing and sharing best practice has been an invaluable experience. I
was able to spend time discussing the practicalities of planning and progression
of skills with Harriet Price who has carried out extensive research in the area of
ICT with under 5’s.
The notion of developing transferrable skills and independence at an early age
became clearer as a result of spending time in the classrooms observing practice
at first hand. I was able to see how ‘defunct’ technological items can be used as
a powerful resource in the role play area eg mobile phones, cameras etc. I saw
the benefits of transcribing the learning potential of resources such as Digital
Cameras, Talking Postcards, Storyphones to name but a few resources can help
parents, staff and students understand the benefits of having these items and
others available in the classroom. ICT in the classroom is so much more than
simply the use of a computer and recording the children’s ability to use a mouse.
The outcomes/benefits of the activity in terms of improvements in pupils’
learning experiences:
I anticipate initially examining the existing continuous provision available in terms
of ICT and identifying what resources could be purchased to enhance that
provision. By introducing simple organisational strategies in the classroom it is
hoped that the children will be able to become more independent in self
monitoring during allocated time at the computer. The purchase of an additional
digital camera and a flip camera for use by the children, talking postcards and the
allocation of technological items in the role play area both inside and outside will
provide children with greater opportunities to develop their learning through ICT.
By extending the children’s use of existing items such as the photocopier, light
box, torches etc ICT will be seen more as an integral aspect of the children’s
daily learning environment not as a separate tool.
How the success of the professional development activity will be
evaluated:
The success of the activity and its benefits in the classroom should begin to be
apparent almost immediately with the purchase of additional ICT resources
outlined above. A more visible presence of ICT use by the children both in terms
of ‘working’ and ‘defunct’ items of ICT will be apparent. It is hoped that all staff
will begin to understand more fully the benefits of this for all children. By making
the learning potential visible to parents through use of photographs it is hoped
that ICT will be perceived by them as an integral aspect of their child’s learning.
ICT will be used as a tool to develop imaginative play/role play, to develop
emergent writing, thinking skills and many other skills. I hope that a greater
presence of technological resources in use in the classroom by children and staff
will be evaluative evidence in itself.
How the experiences, skills and knowledge gained have been and will be
shared with other teachers.
A staff development day has already been allocated towards feeding back
experiences gained from the visit to Homerton. This will take the form of sharing
best practice and also sharing a’ Powerpoint’ presentation of research carried out
by the staff at Homerton giving insight into the breadth that ICT encompasses
within the early years. I am also going to feed back and share best practice with
the Lisburn Nursery Schools cluster group so that the experiences gained will go
beyond the realms of PPNS. I intend also to give the Governors a brief summary
of the experiences gained at the next Governors meeting in Nov 2010.
Reflection by the teacher on the value and effectiveness of the activity:
I feel the visit has given me the confidence to build on what is already existing
good practice in our setting. It is encouraging to visit another setting and to
explore their ‘ICT journey’ – whilst the visit was in some ways discouraging in
that it reinforced that we have a long way to go to achieve the breadth of ICT
resources desired there was an opportunity to see and grasp a vision of what is
possible when small steps are taken.
I was able to talk to practitioners in the same position as myself encountering
similar difficulties in terms of finance but I was able to visually prioritise where we
could possible ‘move forward’.
It was encouraging to realise that we are already moving ahead in terms of ICT
understanding and provision. Having an opportunity to discuss and reflect upon
the practicalities of planning and practice was so beneficial. Often in schools we
are caught up with day to day requirements and rarely have time to reflect and
think about how we can improve. Time out of school on a professional study visit
such as this one was a great morale booster and I am grateful to the GTCNI for
affording me the opportunity to benefit from the funding.
Future plans:
To convey the enthusiasm I gained from the visit to others.
To start small and as finance permits extend the existing provision to include ICT
resources for the children’s use.
To feedback and share experiences gained as outlined above.
To draw up an ICT policy for school – to be available for parents.
To encourage other teachers to avail of the bursaries available for professional
development from GTCNI.
May I once again thank the GTCNI for providing funding which made the above
professional development activity possible.
Lois Wilson
Principal Teacher
Pond Park Nursery School
Lisburn
1 October 2010