Using ICT is one of the three Cross-Curricular Skills at the heart of the Northern Ireland Primary curriculum. Developing children's digital skills encourages them to handle and communicate information, solve problems, pose questions and be creative in using digital technology. 

 

At St Michael's Primary School, we believe it is important that our pupils develop their technical skills in a range of different types of ICT such as:

~publishing

~presenting

~coding

~managing data

~art and design

~music and sound

~film and animation

 

The emphasis in Using ICT is on pupils using digital skills appropriately while engaging in meaningful and purposeful activities. These activities are set in a range of learning areas, such as Language and Literacy, or The Arts.

 

The curriculum requirements for Using ICT are set out under the 5 ‘E’s: Explore, Express, Exchange, Evaluate and Exhibit. These apply to all pupils in primary school, from Primary 1 to Primary 7.

Explore includes two statements. Teachers need to cover both to meet the statutory requirements. The first statement is about looking for, finding, choosing and using information. Children move from having resources provided for them to being more independent and discerning users of ICT. The second statement is about children using digital tools to investigate, enquire and solve problems. This could apply to, for example, the skills of computational thinking and coding.

Express is about children being creative and developing and presenting their ideas using text, sound, music and still or moving images. It ranges from simple text, sound or pictures to developing a multimedia digital product.

Exchange relates to communicating with others online to share and develop ideas. It can include sending and receiving emails, videoconferencing, contributing to online discussions or collaborating with digital tools.

Evaluate is about children reflecting on both their process and outcome, thinking about how they carried out an activity and how they might improve on what they did.

Exhibit is about managing and showcasing work digitally. It ranges from children printing and saving their work to organising and maintaining digital files and folders.

E Safety

The Levels of Progression for Using ICT include this statement: ‘Pupils should demonstrate, when and where appropriate, knowledge and understanding of e-safety including acceptable online behaviour.’

St Michael's Primary School embed e-safety education into teaching and learning in the Areas of Learning through relevant topics. This gives our pupils opportunities to develop their knowledge and understanding of e-safety both in school and at home.

CCEA’s ScamWise resource has useful information and links that are particularly useful for this topic.

ICT resources available to the pupils of St Michael's Primary School

At St Michael's Primary School, we are very fortunate to have a growing range of ICT resources and equipment available to develop and enhance our pupils skills and capabilities.

• A range of laptops and chromebooks within every classroom.
• A number of shared iPads and docking station containing educational apps and programmes.
• Bee bots to develop coding skills at Foundation Stage and Key Stage One.
  Microbits to develop coding skills at Key Stage 2.
• Interactive Whiteboards in every classroom.
• A mini Drone and suitable programmable app for Key Stage Two
• Educational software programmes such as Accelerated Reader, Mathletics and Reading Eggs are used regularly to develop and enhance Literacy and Numeracy skills throughout Foundation Stage, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.