A massive well done to Martin Bailey of Animate 2 Educate for gathering together “The Dream Team – The Ultimate Primary Computing XI’” at the Newcastle Utd, Bamburgh Suite, St.James’ Park, Newcastle. “On the ‘ead mate!”
Martin Bailey is the director of Animate 2 Educate Ltd and works with schools in the North East of England and beyond delivering pupil workshops and staff training sessions on all aspects of Primary Computing.
At their 2014 conference, Animate 2 Educate were delighted to have Tim Rylands and Sarah Neild as their keynote speakers and feedback from delegates in attendance that day was excellent. Of 75 feedback forms completed, 74 of them scored Tim and Sarah 5 out of 5 . . . . the other gave them a 4! Acting on feedback from delegates, it was clear that people wanted Tim and Sarah to return for the 2015 conference and also for them to be joined in the North East by other top quality presenters.
This was a full on event, kicking off in style and continuing in a game of two halves, where everyone was the winner.
“Animate 2 Educate are delighted to bring to the North East eleven of the best speakers in the world of Primary Computing, for what is sure to be a magnificent event. Back by popular demand from the 2014 Conference is the truly inspirational Tim Rylands and he will be joined by names such as Miles Berry, Dughall McCormick, Lee Parkinson and many many more!”
Animate 2 Educate like to think big, and rather than just simply going with two or three keynote presenters, they decided to try and put a whole team of speakers together from the amazing people who they had seen present throughout the UK.
From this initial idea, ‘Dream Team’ was born and with the kind backing of official sponsor Rising Stars, the Ultimate Primary Computing XI was soon assembled.
Kicking things off in the Dream Team XI is North East headteacher Rachel Orr who described her journey towards a digital school and ended her presentation with a stunning operatic performance! Glorious musical style with her wondrous voice.
Rachel says:- “When I first took up my post as head teacher of Holy Trinity Rosehill VA CE Primary School in September 2013 there were pockets of technology but no whole school approach. Shiny tech alienated some staff and it became an add-on to learning and I discovered we had very expensive tech kit sitting the cupboard with very few people knowing how to use it.
For me, this is when we began our journey towards becoming a digital school.
Being a digital school is not necessarily about how many iPads you have. It’s about looking at ways in which we can simplify technology and embed it across the curriculum and into the everyday fabric of learning. It’s not an add-on.
We needed to peel back layers and look at what our common ground was and where the expertise lay in order to reORRganise how we were moving fORRward. We needed an all inclusive approach looking at children, staff, governors and parents. Changing staff responsibilities by using their expertise was at the fORRfront of the big shift in mindset. An all for one, one for all approach. We have streamlined systems for children, staff, governors and parents and continue to evaluate and refine our practices.
We still have further to go and continue to share in the good practice of others to improve our own learning. Exciting times ahead for everyone.
Dughall McCormick – explored what it means to be ‘Educating the Digital Citizens of Tomorrow’ ~
Dughall presented a session entitled ‘Educating the Digital Citizens of Tomorrow’. Whilst deftly mixing the light-hearted and the serious, Dughall spoke about current trends in young people’s use of social media and the responsibility we have to ensure that they are best prepared for an ever-changing world. He reminded us that we are responsible for making sure they are both safe and ‘literate’ in a world where digital literacy is perhaps more important than ever.
In his usual humourous style, Steve Bunce chortled us through a session entitled ‘Blankety Blank – Developing Computing in Your School Using Blank or Blankety Blank’
Steve entertained the audience with his session on ‘Bees’. Linking computational thinking to a bees theme, he used drawings, songs, flowcharts and bells to explain about key concepts. Steve has been working with schools to support computing and has co-written resources for schools with the ‘Scholastic 100 Computing’ series and a new book from Bloomsbury ‘100 ideas for primary teachers’, released this August. He caused quite a buzz!
Andrea Carr of Rising Stars Edu who were sponsoring the event, gave a quick background to their involvement “I’ve always jumped at the chance of travelling up to the North East. Some of my favourite people live there and the schools and teachers I meet always give me a booster shot of energy, enthusiasm and real life. This event was all about learning from the best in primary computing with an impressive dream team taking to the stage. The introduction of computing into the curriculum is one of the most important changes in education we’ve seen in over 20 years.When Rising Stars were asked to sponsor the day I was delighted; it was four yeses from me!”
Bob Harrison shared how ‘Using Technology to Enhance Learning is Not Rocket Science . . . it’s Much Harder Than That’ ~ ” In his usual provocative,yet humorous way, Bob challenged delegates to become paradigm pioneers and rethink the use of technology for teaching and learning in his presentation “Will Investment in ICT improve learning outcomes-is the WRONG question” Instead we should be asking “what is the opportunity cost of NOT investing in the digital skills of our teachers and learners in an increasingly competitive and digital world”
Miles Berry shared his throughts on How to Teach Primary Computing’ In addition to his day job, training the next generation of outstanding teachers at the University of Roehampton, Miles has been a driving force in designing and implementing the primary computing curriculum. He’s the author of the BETT and ERA award winning Switched on Computing scheme from Rising Stars, adopted now by around 5000 schools. He wrote the primary curriculum guidance notes and the DfE funded QuickStart computing handbook. He’s consulted on the Barefoot Computing Project and for Code Club Pro, Microsoft and the BBC. Miles is also taking the computing message abroad: in the last year he’s visited Ljubljana, Brussels, Madrid, Seoul and Singapore.
Lee Parkinson got creative exploring ‘Bringing the Curriculum Alive Using Augmented Reality’ This presentation demonstrated how Augmented Reality can enhance and inspire learning across the curriculum. Showing different apps that will inspire writing through producing real WOW moments in class, such as Quiver, AR Effects and StARz AR. Lee proudly shared the wonderful work children created using these apps as a stimulus.
He then looked at how other AR apps allow you to create your own Augmented Reality. Focusing mainly on Aurasma, Lee shared how his classes have turned displays interactive, brought home-reading books alive, flipped the classroom and even decorated his house with Augmented Reality!