IT National Improvement Network holds Projects at Oasis Academy Blakenhale

The IT Directorate’s National Improvement Network (NIN) has recently been supporting some projects at Oasis Academy Blakenhale. As part of the ongoing learning technologies and curriculum development work being undertaken there, members of the NIN team have been working with Chris Clements the Deputy Principal at the school.

Having attended the Learning Technologies Conference in February 2018, Chris knew that he wanted to develop a curriculum that fully integrated relevant learning technologies. Since then, discussions between the NIN team and Chris have resulted in 3 distinct projects. One is now complete, a second is underway and the third is scheduled for later in this academic year:

Project 1

How can we use technology effectively to engage EYFS pupils in other curriculum areas?

This project has now been completed and has been used to develop a resource that will shortly be available to all OCL schools.

The resource is in the form of an IT NIN Notebook taken from a storyboard: this was created within the school to capture all elements of the project as it was being implemented. It provides details of the rationale, outcomes and external resources that were used and allows any other school to embark on a similar development.

Significantly, the outcomes from the project for the 3 focus success criteria showed a rise in attainment for pupils reaching age related expectations and above in:

• Technology: 85% of pupils at age related expectations 14% of pupils exceeded the ELG.
• Attainment in Writing: 82% of pupils at age related expectations 14% of pupils exceeded the ELG.
• Attainment in Being Imaginative: 80% of pupils at age related expectations 12% of pupils exceeded the ELG.

Project 2

How can assessments of pupils’ performance in non-core subjects be completed effectively?

This project has started and involves all Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 students and teaching staff. The methodology is:

• To develop a curriculum map that incorporates use of learning technologies and the Computing curriculum with additional deep learning activities and Enhancement sessions provided for relevant projects.
• For pupils to have easy access to end of unit quizzes through Microsoft Forms (using QR codes) to assess the learning in non-core subjects.
• Admin staff/Assessment lead to download the results of the quiz to an Excel document in order to analyse the performance of the pupils: in turn, this will be fed back to teaching staff.
• As this develops, a CSV file can be uploaded to BromCom that will populate assessment reports and give teachers direct access to their classes’ attainment in all non-core subjects.

This project is well underway with Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 coming on board, as well as the support of Grace Eadie (a Class Teacher who is also working with the Primary Curriculum Group). The project will conclude later in the year. Watch this space!

Project 3

How can we develop our gifted and talented pupils in PE?

This will be posted later in the year. This will involve addressing how G&T pupils in PE can make further improvements to their performances in dance, gymnastics and athletics. The proposed rationale is for students to watch video clips of elite athletes (clips taken from YouTube), then use the ‘Slo Mo’ app to look at these expert performances in more detail, enabling them to learn how they can develop their techniques further.

Students will record their own performances in dance, gymnastics and athletics. Using a split screen app they can show elite athletes and pupils performing the same skill. Pupils can compare techniques to see where they can make improvements. Using video editing software pupils can make annotations on screen to highlight technique developments. Students will use specific apps and sports coach to control use of iPads using Apple Classroom – and this will give the sports coach more control of the session, with the ability to show examples of the pupils work on the interactive whiteboard).