RGS The Grange and RGS Springfield launched its digital learning programme in September and has seen iPads become an integral part of teaching and learning in both prep schools. Digital technology has become embedded into lessons across the curriculum with children switching between books, paper and pen and iPads in the space of a single lesson.
iPads enable information to be presented in a multitude of different formats – text, images, videos, voice – and the children can become more involved in their own learning, creating content in ways which they find exciting and memorable.
Amelia Lane, a year six pupil, said: “Lessons are more exciting with iPads and we can do our own independent research, it’s fun to find out things for ourselves.”
Jensen Lee, also from year six, said: “I can send my homework straight to my teachers as soon as it’s done through Showbie, and that way I feel more organised.”
Gareth Hughes, headmaster of RGS The Grange, said: “Pupils from year one to year six have created online books on a wide variety of topics; from polar bears in year one to floods and droughts in year three, then onto Victorian Britain in year six. Not only can the children research the subject areas for themselves, they can also put together text, pictures and videos, and then record themselves explaining the subject over the top.”
Children are able to quickly take photographs or videos and even make sketches using an art app. They are then able to annotate the pictures, produce presentations, eBooks and iMovies from their learning.
Apps like Popplet are used for mind-mapping exercises, allowing children to organise their thoughts clearly and succinctly, while Socrative has allowed teachers to give instant feedback and to gain an immediate overview of how well individual children and the class as a whole have understood a particular topic.
Laura Brown, headmistress of RGS Springfield, said: “The world that our children inhabit is inherently linked with technology. The RGS prep schools are giving children the grounding and passion for technology that will serve them well, providing them with the skills, knowledge and appetite for learning that they will need in a swiftly changing world.”
