Digital technology in primary school life

Cornist Park Community Primary School is in Flint, North Wales.  There are over 300 pupils on roll, of which around 17% are eligible for free school meals.  The school strives to equip pupils with the lifelong skills that they need as modern 21st century citizens.  The school provides pupils with access to an extensive range of digital technology devices and experiences during their school life.  The devices have become digital tools used to engage and inspire pupils to be creative and independent learners.

Action and sharing the practice

Cornist Park C.P. School understands that digital technology can only enhance teaching and learning if staff are confident in using it.  Each year, staff complete a skills audit to provide the school with valuable information to guide the continuous professional development (CPD) planning cycle.  The audit informs an annual digital action plan, which also feeds into the school development plan.  The school’s Staff Digital Lead organises professional learning opportunities for staff.  Individual members of staff then evaluate its impact on pupils. 

Since the introduction of the Digital Competence Framework (DCF), the school has adapted its staff skills audit procedures.  It provides staff with training on each strand of the DCF each half term.  This enables them to build upon their existing understanding and skills and become fully confident at delivering each strand of the DCF.  The school also gives teachers additional time out of class to provide them with the opportunity to work closely with the Staff Digital Lead to utilise skills, encourage creativity and adapt their medium-term plans to include the DCF in meaningful and creative ways. 

The school believes that digital citizenship sits at the heart of embedding digital technology into school life.  A key aim of the school is to enable pupils, staff, parents, governors and the wider community to connect, collaborate, and communicate online in a responsible and safe way.  All staff receive annual up-to-date eSafety training and sign acceptable use policies.  Induction training for new staff includes an additional safeguarding session that covers eSafety and digital citizenship issues. 

To raise the digital competence of its pupils, staff and the wider school community, including parents, governors and community members, the school has groups of pupils who lead on digital learning.  These Pupil Digital Leaders assist the Staff Digital Lead in training and offering ongoing support to staff within the school and schools across Flintshire.  The school has also developed the role of an eSafety governor who helps to raise awareness of digital learning amongst the governors and works closely with the Digital Leaders and eSafety group.  To encourage parental engagement, the school has also appointed an ‘eParent’ who supports the school’s ‘eCadet’ and digital leader teams with their events and meetings.

Parental surveys designed collaboratively by the Staff Digital Lead, Pupil Digital Leaders and eSafety group identify the training needs of parents.  From analysing the results of the surveys, the school has organised events such as a ‘Freaked Out’ parents’ evening, ‘Digifest’ and ‘Digi Family’ workshops to educate parents about using digital technology at home to help their child’s learning and to ensure that they keep their child and themselves safe online.  Through these events, the staff have discovered that parents listen and respond most effectively to being taught by the pupils.  As a result, the children lead on presenting and teaching under the supervision of the Staff Digital Leader.  In addition, the school’s team of eCadets and digital leaders organise a ‘digi desk’ where parents drop in and ask eSafety or technical issues at every parents’ evening.

The school’s eSafety team has also held a drop in session at a local bank in Flint for customers to learn about how to keep their banking details safe online.  They taught the customers about phishing emails, how to spot one and what to do about it. 

Impact

The school has successfully enhanced and developed the digital competency skills of pupils, staff, parents, governors and the wider community, with pupils at the heart of successful training events. 

Teachers have embedded digital technology and learning across the curriculum through a range of rich experiences for pupils in the classroom.  This enables pupils to make rapid progress and achieve outstanding standards in information and communication technology.