Back in 2014, the quality of teaching at Pheasey Park was described by Ofsted as ‘dusty’ and learning as ‘passive’ and we were in the 'Requires Improvement’ category. We knew we needed to make immediate changes. That’s when we turned to EdTech to create a more collaborative community and give students more ownership of their learning. This has helped us to transform behaviour and attendance levels, support school improvement and reduce teacher workload.
We changed people’s way of thinking and largely this has been down to our concerted efforts to showcase the benefits of EdTech resources and our continued emphasis on professional development for staff.
We were delighted when Ofsted rated the school ‘Good’ in 2016,. They said, 'technology is used effectively to develop collaboration between pupils.' Now we are one of the DfE’s official EdTech Demonstrator schools, helping other schools around the country leverage EdTech to their advantage and effectively support teachers and staff both during and beyond the challenges currently faced by the education sector.
Minimising disruption in lockdown
Like many schools, we had embraced technology long before Covid-19 hit, and had many systems already in place, so fortunately didn’t have to start from scratch unlike some schools.
We had plans for subscriptions, so Covid-19 brought that forward almost overnight and we implemented systems such as Microsoft OneNote to help create a central platform for our children to log into and access all of our online content in one place.
We made things as straightforward as possible for our parents and children so they would not have to check five or six different subscription sites to access work and homework. This meant there was limited disruption to lessons. We also used the same portal for giving feedback, which staff could deliver via written or audio methods. Audio feedback was particularly effective during lockdown, as children were able to hear the familiar and friendly voice of their teachers.