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Workshops for children, CPD for teachers and edtech loans
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Do you want to know how to make the most of all the positive digital developments that have happened at your school since the beginning of the pandemic? Are you interested in ensuring technology is front and centre of your recovery curriculum? Do you need a computing curriculum reboot?
We offer a package of support that combines exciting computing curriculum and technology-based workshops for primary children, unlimited CPD for teachers, technology loan kit, consultancy and access to our projects with industry partners such as IBM and Google and cultural partners such as BFI and Tate.
The Connected Learning Centre is part of Education Development Trust. We support schools and other settings in using digital technologies creatively and critically. We provide outstanding curriculum support, technical services and professional development.
We aim to embed technology use into all areas of the curriculum based on the principle that every young person deserves the digital skills and critical mindset to prepare them for life. Our curriculum workshops and CPD programmes are effective, engaging and always based on sound pedagogical research.
We help senior leaders make informed choices about IT, supporting schools to feel confident in using technology by involving the whole school community from governors and business managers to pupils and families.
"The CLC’s provision of a joined-up technical and curriculum support service has become an integral part of everyday school life at Hillmead."
"Our staff, across the curriculum, have gained knowledge and expertise which has made their role easier in terms of time and technological strategies to enhance learning in their subject."
This event will build upon the Autumn computing conference by inviting subject leaders to reflect on their year in the role, sharing their successes and challenges. It will also introduce new ideas, tools and approaches through talks and practical activities led by members of the CLC team, with opportunities for attendees to share their own expertise and experience. Over the course of the conference activities will touch on the three main areas of the computing curriculum: computer science, digital literacy and information technology. We will also feature advice and examples illustrating the use of technology to support blended learning.
Combining forces for the first time, the Connected Learning Centre and More Than Robots have created a session for teachers, youth organisations, researchers and policymakers interested in the digital provision of creative arts for primary aged pupils.
Presentations
The Play Observatory - Prof. John Potter
“In their own words”: Westminster Abbey & CLC digital projects - Sian Shaw
Building (and maintaining) a city-wide primary arts curriculum to raise attainment - Kate Fellows
More to be added soon
This interactive and inclusive meet up will include inspiring examples of how technology can be used to support learning in music, visual art and drama in person and online at home drawing on our experiences as Tate Exchange associates and our partnership work with a range of cultural institutions.
This informal event is an opportunity to discuss real examples of what does/doesn’t work, meet colleagues from other sectors working on similar challenges and share useful research, news or updates
The morning will include case study presentations (details below) followed by a Q&A. There will also be an opportunity for a rapid sharing round for launches, project updates or requests for help and a short break to avoid zoom brain drain.
"Children from Year 1 to Year 6 enjoy visiting the CLC for workshops, knowing that each time they visit is a new experience, a new challenge and will further their knowledge and understanding of the curriculum through a computer-based activity."
We invite your class to become filmmakers for the day as they write, record and edit their own documentary, teleporting themselves to another time or place through the magic of green screen technology. Prepare your own topic by coordinating with our tutors in advance or choose from: the solar system, the human body, the ancient Greeks, the Mayans, the Romans, the Shang Dynasty or the Vikings.
Computing:
be confident and creative users of IT.
English:
elaborate and explain their understanding and ideas.
Science and humanities:
topic-specific learning.
In this session, the whole class will work collaboratively to design and build their own Minecraft city. Each child will be responsible for their own building and must consider culture, leisure, industry and environmental responsibility.
Geography:
understand human geography including settlements and land use.
Computing:
be confident and creative users of ICT.
Design and technology:
research and develop design criteria to inform design.
In this session, pupils will explore the different features and functions of the BBC micro:bit, looking at lights, music and making use of sensors. They will then work in groups to design and build a marvellous machine, learning programming skills, wiring simple circuits and using their imaginations to create their own curiosities.
Please note this workshop is only recommended for upper KS2 pupils
Using free, easy to access and age-appropriate digital tools, children will explore rhythm, tempo, dynamics and pitch, using forms of visual musical notation to create a compositions combining these features. This workshop can be adapted to suit a range of age groups and will include phase-appropriate curriculum content. For upper KS2 classes this workshop is also available as a full day, during which children will use text-based coding to program their own musical compositions.
Please note the full day option is only available for upper KS2 pupils.
Music:
create, select and combine sounds; play and perform; improvise and compose.
Computing:
use technology purposefully to create, organise, store, manipulate and retrieve digital content.
Inspired by the BBC’s Own It resources, pupils will discuss and research the key online safety and digital literacy issues affecting young children in their age group. For year 6 pupils, these will include the issues they may face as they make the transition into secondary education. Pupils will work together in groups to create a series of vlog-style films promoting positive and healthy online behaviour.
Computing:
use technology safely, respectfully and responsibly. Recognise acceptable/unacceptable online behaviour, be discerning in evaluating digital content.
English:
elaborate and explain their understanding and ideas.
Pupils will plan, write and debug programs by solving a series of practical problems with the Lego WeDo, EV3 or Spike robots.
Computing:
design, write and debug programs. Use sequence, selection and repetition in programs. Use logical reasoning to predict the behaviour of simple programs.
Maths:
directional language.
Tailored and differentiated to suit your pupils’ levels of programming experience, this session will take your class through a series of challenges to develop computational thinking skills and explore key computer science concepts, such as sequence, selection, variables and repetition.
Computing:
use logical reasoning and analyse problems in computational terms.
Maths:
reason mathematically and solve problems.
By exploring the history of computing, this workshop will introduce pupils to the structure of the internet, how it can be used to send messages around the world and how encryption can help keep our information private. Tackling a series of tech-free challenges, pupils will gain an understanding of how Julius Caesar can help us solve puzzles, what codebreakers did in world war II and how to write a secret message in Morse code.
Computing:
design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems.
Computing:
understand computer networks, including the internet and the world wide web, and the opportunities they provide.
History:
study a theme in British history that extends chronological knowledge beyond 1066; connections, contrasts and trends.
Pupils will use Google tools including Maps, Earth and Street View to explore the location of their school from a range of perspectives, taking into account its physical and human geography and how it has changed over time. They will create a record of their investigation by saving pictures and typing text. This workshop can be adapted to suit a range of age groups and will include phase-appropriate curriculum content.
NB. only available in school to upper KS2 pupils
Computing:
collect, analyse, present and evaluate data and information.
Geography:
interpret a range of sources, communicate in a variety of ways.
History:
understand continuity and change, similarity and difference.
Pupils will tell an animated story, using iPad apps to bring hand-drawn characters and settings to life. This workshop can be adapted to suit a range of age groups and will include phase-appropriate curriculum content. If you would like us to fit the session around a topic or story your class is learning about, please let us know when you make your booking.
Art and design:
produce creative work, exploring ideas and recording experiences.
Computing:
use technology purposefully to create, organise, store, manipulate and retrieve digital content.
English:
generate ideas, plan and create a narrative for an audience.
"What's so great about each activity... is that children are utilising and developing so many different skills, so there's a lot of problem-solving going on, children are learning new digital skills, and they are working in teams and pairs collaboratively. They are trying it out and seeing what happens and that is the essence of creativity and it's an essential skill for life."
Wherever you stand in Westminster Abbey, you will be surrounded by light and colour. From stained-glass windows to wall paintings to the unique Cosmati Pavement, join us to discover over 1,000 years of faith and history through the theme of light and colour. This day-long experience will use guided tours of the Abbey floor and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries to inspire digital creations. Pupils will get to design their own stained-glass window on an iPad, just as David Hockney did for the Queen’s Window, and spend the day photographing examples of light and colour, culminating in the creation of a digital book full of pupil’s thoughts from the day.
The project starts w/c 7th March 2022 – 5 KS2 classes (30 children per class) across 5 full days
The CLC is once again partnering with the Garden Museum to offer a partnership project for KS1 pupils (primarily suited to Yr2). Located next to Lambeth Palace on the bank of the Thames, the museum has an inspiring collection that provides the ideal stimulus for young learners to explore the world around them.
Pupils will use technology alongside the museum’s collection to explore the wonderful world of seeds.
The Garden Museum has a large collection of seeds and tools that pupils will engage with.
These half-day sessions will take place at the Garden Museum.
There is a limited number of dates available, so please book early to avoid disappointment.
Special project in collaboration with First News Education
For a third year, building on two successful previous projects, we are once again partnering with the children’s newspaper First News, fellow member of the national Making Sense of Media and News Literacy networks. This special project with a literacy, PSHE and citizenship, as well as computing focus, highlights our specialist interest in this important aspect of digital and critical literacy.
The News Project will enable participating classes from year 5 to immerse themselves in news and current affairs using First News and the Bett award-winning First News iHUB, which will be provided free of charge during the school-based part of the project over a six week period. Under the guidance of their teacher, pupils will be supported in their development as a community of fully informed news readers. Classes will test their new critical skills and knowledge in the culminating virtual celebration event which will include a news competition and team-based critical literacy and editorial activities. After the event, schools will be able to use the resources from the day in their school.
The project will launch with an introductory CPD session for teachers to set the context, demonstrate resources and to plan for the school-based activities.
Initial CPD session - Thursday 21st October 4pm-5.00pm.
Project work undertaken in school - October and November.
Special event - Thursday 25th November 9.30am-2.45pm.
"Their team are so knowledgeable and at the cutting edge of the world in which they work, and we feel secure in the knowledge that they are with us."
"Their team are so knowledgeable and at the cutting edge of the world in which they work, and we feel secure in the knowledge that they are with us."
"We’ve been working with a CLC support package for a couple of years now to develop the curriculum. It’s brilliant. It keeps me up to date with the latest technology and the pedagogy of how to teach these concepts to children."
Sphero Robots
4 x Sphero robots
Sphero robots work wirelessly with iPad or Chromebook using the free Sphero Education app, enabling pupils to program these robots to move through obstacle courses and draw shapes with light. Schools need to provide their own iPads or Chromebooks or create a teacher account at https://edu.sphero.com/.
iPads
6 x iPads
Historical Treasure Trove
4 x replica stone age tools
18 x replica Anglo-Saxon, Viking and Roman coins
1x replica bone comb (Viking)
9 x pieces Roman, Viking and Anglo-Saxon replica jewellery
Digital information sheets
EYFS Outdoor Explore
2 x USB microscopes
2 x digital cameras
4 x digital sound recorders
3 x talking buttons
1 x visualiser
Your school will supply: laptop with software – we will provide a link to the software
Green screen Set
1 x iPad
1 x green screen backdrop
1 x green screen stand
1 x tripod
LogIT Explorer set
5 x dataloggers
Your school will optionally supply: laptop with LogIT software installed
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