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Innov8ed is made up of five Warrington Primary Schools working in partnership to develop innovative projects linked to making the best use of handheld technology to further children’s learning in the 21st Century. The five schools are all from the more deprived areas of Warrington with FSM ranging from 25% - 45%. The project began in September 2007 when we agreed to equip all of the Year 6 children in these five schools with a Samsung Q1 UMPC. Since 2007 the project has expanded in each of the five schools and in September 2009 we had a total of almost 600 children with home access to a wide range of handheld devices.
The support from the e-learning foundation has been tremendous. In the very early days of the project this was a massive step for these five schools to take, a real leap of faith. Not only did the e-learning foundation help us with grants to ensure that all of our children were able to benefit from the project but more importantly they were always at hand to offer support and encouragement. Over the years we have developed this partnership which has allowed us to share our successes over a wide area, both locally and nationally. In Warrington alone, a number of schools are replicating the work of the Innov8ed schools, and many of them are being well supported by the e-learning foundation.
An initial aim of the Innov8ed project was to “Develop personalised learning through personalised technology.” This phrase came from one of the very first meetings the group had with staff from the e-learning foundation, it is now a reality for many of our children.
Mike Johnson, Innovated Co-ordinator, Warrington
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The benefits of the e-Learning Foundation grants have been immeasurable. Home access arrangements have meant that our children and their families have been able to extend their learning in so many ways. It has also been a huge motivating factor in the raising of aspirations of our school community.The funding and support provided by the e-Learning Foundation has been crucial in enabling our school to become confident in all aspects of ICT. The e-Learning Foundation has provided a crucial platform for our school to develop its ICT infrastructure and keep pace with learning in the digital age.
Kevin Dyson, Headteacher, St Andrews CE Primary School, Warrington
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The St Peter's Netbook project was an extremely ambitious innovation - providing netbooks for 240 pupils to use at school and home. With the invaluable advice and support from the e-learning foundation, coupled with grant funding, we have over 2 years, been able to realise our ambition. The impact on teaching and learning has been considerable and we feel we are only just beginning to explore this. The project could not have been launched without support from our Local Authority and the experienced advice and fund management from the e-learning foundation. The project has created a buzz amongst parents and staff.
Rod Dean, Headteacher St Peter's Bratton, Telford
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Since joining the e-Learning Foundation Sue has been a great support to the school, giving us advice on our "Tools for Learning" project. In which we are giving individual devices and internet connectivity to pupils to enhance personalised learning and raise attainment. We are currently in the second phase of this rollout, the valuable information and advice Sue, our local School Liasion Manager, has provided has allowed us to plan the rollout and benifit from an e-LF grant. We have also been able to offer out post 16 pupils an individual grant for a device and internet access to support their studies where needed.
Alex Summers, ICT Coordinator, Lysander Community High School, Warrington
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A huge thank you to the e-Learning Foundation for its support. We are delighted with the project so far. We have had some teething problems but they have been so small and seem insignificant when we look at the benefits that we are beginning to see. We are still learning - the students somewhat faster than the staff and feel that the potential for development is really exciting.
Helen Holman, Headteacher, Orchard School, Bristol
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The e-Learning Foundation grant made it financially viable for the college to offer home computing to students and their families, even when the families were unable to contribute financially to the programme.
Steve Dommett, Headteacher, Rushden Community College, Northamptonshire
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The reaction of parents and pupils to the scheme has been so positive and I have been hugged and thanked so many times it makes all the hard work worthwhile!
Donald Pedley, Head of e-Learning, Sion Manning RC Girls' School, London
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We made it very clear that help was available and made sure parents could talk to staff confidentially about money issues. I truly feel that those who could afford to donate more did and those who really needed more help got it. We never dictated the amount of support, but asked what parents thought they could reasonably afford, even if that was nothing at all… Some parents have approached me saying that they have a computer at home, but that help with Internet access and understanding what their children use computers for would be of great help.
Jan Moriarty, Partnership Manager, Queensbury School, Bradford
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