Information and Communication Technology

The ICT Department aims to ensure that Coletines and staff use Information and Communication Technology appropriately and effectively, and are aware of its advantages and limitations. The objectives are: to provide a resource for teaching and learning as English does for literacy and Mathematics for numeracy; to develop pupils’ ICT capability, which can enhance their work throughout the curriculum; to prepare pupils for the uses of ICT they will meet outside the School.

In the Curriculum

The use of ICT is integrated into the curriculum. In many subjects boys use the internet as a resource and use a word processor or presentation software to present their research. Boys use spreadsheets to present and chart surveys and mathematical formulae. Some subjects use specialist software: in Art, boys will learn to manipulate images digitally, in Design and Technology to use Design programmes; in French the computers double as a Language Laboratory and some musicians compose music on a computer.

Subject Timetable and Organisation

To complement the ICT in the curriculum, boys have timetabled ICT lessons. In these lessons the teacher can ensure boys cover the basic skills required by their other subjects. It is also an opportunity to look at topics not otherwise met across the curriculum. The Lower First syllabus is related to work the boys are doing in class with much of the software being of an interactive problem solving nature plus some simple word processing. From the First Year, keyboard awareness is developed using a typing tutorial, which can be accessed via the Internet so that boys may practise at home. The focus on word processing aims to develop good practice and an awareness of audience. Photographs are taken, edited and inserted into documents. The boys create presentations, learn basic spreadsheet skills and simple control with flow diagrams. Later topics include creating and editing databases, creating simple web pages, using HTML and video editing. Skills are consistently revised and enhanced so that the boys can be more efficient when applying ICT across the curriculum. Online safety, both at home and in school, is discussed and emphasised throughout the course. The First and Second Years have two lessons a week and the Third Year have one lesson a week. In the Fourth Year the pupils are withdrawn from other subjects.

Hardware Provision

There are two clusters of computers in Colet Court. Both are equipped with 25 PCs, one of which is linked to a video projector. Colour laser printers and scanners are available in both teaching clusters. A wireless network runs throughout the school and a class set of netbooks is used in the First Year classrooms. Each classroom is equipped with an interactive whiteboard.

Internet

Access to the Internet is available on all computers. Internet content is administered in school allowing for different levels of filtration for selected groups of users. The underlying database of unacceptable sites is updated daily as a part of the support contract. Logs of web activity are kept in the School and may be checked as necessary. All boys, from the end of the First Year, are given a school email account, which they can access from home via the intranet.

Co-curricular Opportunities

The ICT Suite in Colet House is used extensively by classes using ICT to support their subject and supervised at breaks for senior pupils. All use is subject to the School’s ICT Policy which all pupils have to sign up to before they can use the computer network. No boys are allowed to use a school computer unsupervised.