NORFOLK GOVERNORS' NETWORK

For those with an interest in ICT in schools, January always begins with a visit to the BETT show. BETT is trade show specialising the all things ICT – whether you are a lead governor for ICT curriculum, SEN or have an interest in assessment, there will be something there for you.

This year was the first year that the current Secretary of State attended and his announcement focused on reforming the way that ICT is taught, as his view is that the existing curriculum has left children “bored out of their minds being taught how to use Word and Excel by bored teachers”. A full copy of Michael Gove’s speech and additional commentary is available from the DfE website and those interested in promoting Computing At School, the main theme of the speech, can visit the Norfolk Computing At School site at www.groupspaces.com/ncas.

Naace, the organisation representing practitioners, launched their new ‘Naace ICT Curriculum for KS3’ which focuses learning on a wide range of topics that come together under the term ‘Digital Life’. Full details are available from http://www.naace.co.uk/ks3ictcurriculum.

There were some excellent examples of impressive ICT practice coming out of Norfolk in both the public and private sectors.

Michael Pickett from Norfolk’s ICT Shared Services presented at the Google stand and outlined how Norfolk has rolled out the largest public sector implementation of Google Apps for Education.

Norwich company PupilAsset were demonstrating how their tracking analysis system can help teachers, managers and leaders better understand progress within their school. Already in use in more than 100 Norfolk schools you may find that this information is available to your governors in order to better understand standards within your school.

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