Primary Bits and Bytes

Congratulations go to Newsome Junior School and Scissett First School for winning awards this week at the first National Schools Film and Animation Awards in London. Scissett First School won the Key Stage One Film category for their film Caterpillar; Newsome Junior School won the Key Stage Two Film category for their film Animal Watch. Dryclough Infants school were also nominated for an award for Key Stage One animation, but unfortunately didn’t win their category. The children had a fantastic day at the British Film Institute, and met Floella Benjamin (although I think I was more excited about this than they were!).

This is a real achievement as nine local authorities entered the awards. The schools were entered into the national competition as a result of winning the Kirklees Star Awards in July. If you would like to see the films, they are all on Ednet:

http://www.kirklees-ednet.org.uk/subjects/ictprimary/starAwards.htm

The Smart Multitouch table has now arrived in Britain. The new device is an educational version of Microsoft Surface. It allows a group of children to work together on an interactive table top. I haven’t seen it myself yet – at present I would have to travel to the Steljes HQ in Surrey to see one in action. I have been looking at the internet coverage of the release, which includes press releases and videos of the table in action.

There is already a great deal of controversy, mainly caused by the price – the initial retail price will be around £5499, which puts it out of reach of most schools for the time being. The forum postings make interesting reading, with some people unimpressed by the videos of the table in action, and the usual split between the technology enthusiasts and the doubters. I am waiting to see the real thing before I form an opinion.

See the table on the Smart website:

http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SMART+Table/

For the Smart press release see:

http://www.steljes.co.uk/about-us/news/smart-introduces-first-interactive-table-for-primary-school-students

For videos and opinions see:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/22/smart-pulls-the-cloth-off-multitouch-table-for-school-kids/

http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/23/kids-on-with-the-smart-table/

The November edition of Becta Technews is now available to download as a PDF file from:

http://schools.becta.org.uk/upload-dir/downloads/page_documents/research/technews/nov08.pdf

Technews is aimed at local authority and school technicians and covers new developments on the technical side of educational ICT.

The presentation from the latest Primary ICT Network Meeting, held on Wednesday 12th November, is now available in the Primary ICT Community on KGfL:

 http://www.kgfl.org.uk/kgfl/web/KGfL%20-%20KC4L%20Communities/Primary%20ICT%20Community/

You will need to log in and join the community to view the presentation.

New eSafety resources aimed at parents are available on the CEOP ThinkUKnow website. There is a powerpoint presentation, ‘Purely for Parents’, for use at awareness raising meetings, and a parents fact sheet. Download the resources from www.thinkuknow.co.uk/teachers . You will need to register and login to access the materials.

Year 6 teachers may be interested in attending ThinkuKnow training to enable them to use the resources for 11-16 year olds. There are a number of free training dates coming up, the events closest to Kirklees are:
Newcastle 03/12/2008
Preston 28/01/2009
Newcastle 29/04/2009

These are 2 1/2 hour sessions. For details or to book a place see: www.thinkuknow.co.uk/teachers/training