Our students are ‘digital learners’ who live in the information age. To our students, a life without digital technologies would be alien. Their aptitudes, attitudes, expectations and learning styles reflect the stimulating, fast-moving age in which we now live. For most of them, instant messaging has already surpassed the telephone and email has become their primary form of communication.
As a Trust, we have invested heavily in an innovative, technology-rich learning environment for our students. Every child in the school receives a device free of charge, which they bring to school every day. Every classroom is equipped with state-of-the-art technology.
By using devices, we can bring real examples of Science, History and Geography instantly into the classroom. In music they can use them as a composing tool; they can make notes in the margins of electronic books without defacing the book itself; the old school textbook can now, using online devices, be supplemented with images and video audio enhancements; we can visit many major art galleries throughout the world and examine famous works of art.
Our curriculum is both challenging and research-based and, as such, we will be teaching our students how to use their devices as a research tools. We also email out many of our lesson and homework content to students before their next lesson so they can arrive at lessons prepared and ready to learn. Devices introduce the concept of anytime-anywhere learning and encourage imagination and creativity. This isn’t the future for learning; this is how young people are learning today.