Cardinal Newman
Catholic School‘A Specialist Arts and Community College’
Our Story
• Arts Specialist Technology College
• 1258 students (217 post 16) 134 staff (86 teaching staff)
• ‘A GOOD school with many OUTSTANDING features’ (OfSTED2011)
• Strong vision and leadership
• Hardworking and committed staff & students
• Culture of Innovation (moved to 3 Period Day & Vertical Tutoring)
• Improving Results
‘A’ LEVEL: Pass Rate 97%
GCSE: Students gaining 5 A* to C grades - 84%
Our School
2010 Integrated Learning Systems and access to a personalised online learning space (DCSF Targets)
2010 all secondary schools are expected to make information available to parents via secure online access (DCSF Targets)
Why a VLE?
• Society trends/shifts
• Anytime / Anywhere Learning Agenda
• Enhanced student engagement
• Whole school improvement
• Innovation - more than just a learning platform
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June 2008
February 2009
May 2009
August 2009
September 2009
January 2010
April 2010
Design & Build Development
Our Time LineSeptember
2007
Launch to Parents Sept 2011
Why did we decide on FROG?
• FROG offered a bespoke design for our school that supported school vision & ethos
• Dedicated designers to put our ideas into reality
• Easy to use for staff of all levels
• Training and support help desk
• Lots of choices out there
• Needed to take advice on best products (visited trade shows and other schools)
• Link governor for ICT worked closely with us to look at different possibilities
Staff• Ease of use
• Easy access from school or home
• More engagement in independent learning
• Streamline many admin tasks
• Help with setting of work & sharing resources
• Support staff in collaborative work/planning
• Departmental Areas to access work
• Improved links with parents
How did we design our VLE?
Each department trained up a FROG champion to lead on the VLE within curriculum areas
Student
• Access timetable/diary/calendar
• Access work, resources and home learning tasks
• Develop greater Independent Learning skills
• Remote access to specialist software
• Students engaged (improved Student Voice)
How did we design our VLE?
Working with the student council to design layouts and features
How did we design our VLE?
Letters/Contacts
Gallery/Showcase
Home Learning Set
AssessmentTrack Progress
Online Reporting
School Calendar
Subjects
Messaging
Parental VoiceBehaviour
Update Details
Parental Trial Group
Parental
The problem with achieving results in the classroom
Letters/Contacts
Gallery/ShowcaseMessaging
Parental VoiceBehaviour
Update Details
• Students were disengaged as no new technologies and they wanted whizzy things to help them with their learning especially revision
• Teaching and learning was judged to be good with satisfactory elements by Ofsted and LA reviews
• Lack of completion of home learning across the entire school so needed a new way of engaging students at home
• No real central area for resources and lessons to be stored for students and staff to access, also parental access was not viable
• Problems in students accessing cover work if out of lesson and therefore falling behind therefore in the long term they were not achieving their target grades
Our Fix
Letters/Contacts
Gallery/ShowcaseMessaging
Parental VoiceBehaviour
Update Details• As previously stated we had a look at lots of options to get the VLE that was right for our school ~ we had lots of support in this from our link Governor who is an ICT specialist
• When we started with Frog we involved all different stakeholders on the look and feel for the pages
• We then ensured every Faculty had a Frog champion who was the lead person to set up Frog
• Staff had a term to input work and home learning onto Frog before it went live to students ~ if staff felt they were ready earlier they started to introduce it into lessons. This time was really important as it allowed for all staff to be involved as well as ensuring staff had the time to populate subject areas
• Once it was officially launched students logged on to see about home learning or to see what was happening in different subject areas
• Students became so used to lessons appearing on there that they often questioned why a lesson hadn’t been put on before their actual lesson to help them further their learning
Our Fix
Letters/Contacts
Gallery/ShowcaseMessaging
Parental VoiceBehaviour
Update Details• By no means a complete solution as needed to get all staff on board especially those who were technophobes. We did this through drop in opportunities and for there to be only 2 people who they could go too for help who were both non technical
• Students log on every day even on Christmas Day! This has helped to change the culture of the school
• For home learning even though it was recommended to set home learning through Frog, some staff didn’t so we were still battling against this as they felt it was 1 more job for them to do
• From September 2011 all parents have access to Frog to check home learning, behaviour points for positive and negative behaviour, all departmental areas and attendance
• By engaging parents we are hoping to provide a cohesive community for learning which helps for it to be transparent
The benefits to the school
Letters/Contacts
Gallery/ShowcaseMessaging
Parental VoiceBehaviour
Update Details• Helped to engage students especially regular non attenders as it helped them to catch up on missing work without staff having to make additional time
• Helped raise achievements having 24 hour access as grades rose to 80% A* - C at GCSE and 100% A level
• Students logging on late at night when they feel it is beneficial for them as no time constraints
• Parental access has led to parents wanting to know more information and expect information and data at a click of the mouse. More cohesive learning community now.
• Some parents were worried about using ICT to access information so have run classes each half term for parents to access and learn how to use Frog and answer queries
The benefits to the school
Letters/Contacts
Gallery/ShowcaseMessaging
Parental VoiceBehaviour
Update Details• For some parents they had never accessed the internet so more classes were developed for them to help them in every day lives also such as setting up online bank accounts
• Also staff enjoy using Frog and how it helps their lessons and allows for differentiation
• Lowers the costs of photocopying as students have online access to resources• As a school we have created curriculum oversights and home learning oversights
for the whole school, which are accessible through Frog for parents, students and cover teachers to access so can see where students should be and the areas that are coming up next for focus
• Teaching and Learning now judged good with outstanding features by Ofsted in October 2011
Cardinal Newman Catholic School‘A Specialist Arts and Community College’
Sandpits LaneKeresleyCoventryCV62FR
Telephone: 024 76332382Fax: 024 76335626
E-mail: [email protected]: www.cardinalnewman.coventry.sch.uk
Contacts?