Cambridge Nationals: the new name for OCR Nationals

There will be an event on the 23rd March at the OCR Cymru office in Cardiff covering the new Cambridge Nationals in ICT. There are two time slots available on that day 10-12 and 1-3.

To book one of the sessions please email john.adamson@ocr.org.uk. I would advise that this is done as soon as possible to guarantee a place. More information on Cambridge Nationals (the new name for OCR Nationals) here: http://www.cambridgenationals.org.uk/

3rd Millennium Learning Award

Congratulations to Gowerton Comprehensive School and Casllwchwr Primary School for gaining the 3rd Millennium Learning Award. The aim of this award is to enable schools to demonstrate how they are providing an education fit for the 21st Century.

It celebrates schools’ achievements in creating an environment and curriculum that stimulate more and better learning, making full use of the opportunities presented by technology.

The schools were presented with their awards at a ceremony held at the recent BETT Show in London. Also announced at the ceremony was the shortlisting of Simon Pridham, headteacher of Casllwchwr Primary School, for the NAACE ICT Impact Award for demonstrating leading practice in the use of ICT. More information about the 3rd Millennium Learning Award can be found here: http://www.naace.co.uk/thirdmillenniumlearningaward

BT Internet Ranger

One of Casllwchwr Primary School’s Apple Ambassadors, Isobel Bass, became the youngest ever winner of the BT Internet Ranger Award. This is a national competition which recognises the excellent work young people carry out in their communities with regards to sharing skills and teaching other community members the benefits of using the internet.

Headteacher Simon Pridham said, “Isobel travels around schools and conferences with us as one of our ambassadors and recently spent time with one of our governors, Rev. Geoff Turner, showing him how to effectively use the new iPad 2 he had bought. On the strength of her work she was recommended for the award and was successfully chosen as the Welsh Regional winner.

“She is the youngest ever winner of the BT Internet Ranger Award and we are all extremely proud of her.”

Isobel wins an iPad 2 and also £100 worth of iTunes vouchers.

More information on BT Internet Rangers can be found here: http://www.btplc.com/Responsiblebusiness/Supportingourcommunities/Digitalinclusion/BTinternetrangers/index.htm

Your digital career starts here!

The Big Ambition Wales, the Careers web site for IT sector in Wales was launched by Chris Evans MP for Islwyn on Thursday 3rd November, at General Dynamics. He challenged all key stakeholders to help promote the site, in order to raise awareness among the population of Wales, so that the key messages about the sector reach as many people as possible.

Big Ambition Wales will help young people find out what a career in IT is really like and what they need to do to get there.

Link: http://www.bigambitionwales.com/

Learn-ICT Website

The front page of the Learn-ICT website has been given a bit of a make over so that it is no longer reliant on the Flash Player plug-in. Schools using older versions of Internet Explorer could not view parts of the front page as it was using Flash Player 9.

The updated version of the front page now uses JavaScript to display the rotating banner and (hopefully) you should see an effect as you move your mouse over the links at the bottom of the page.

Please contact John Mills if you find there are problems with the update!

ICT 4 NQTs

The ICT Curriculum Team will be running a short course for Newly Qualified Teachers in Primary and Secondary schools this term.

1st November 2011: Primary NQTs Course looking at the use of ICT in the Primary Curriculum, the Scheme of Work for ICT and supporting resources.

3rd November 2011: Secondary NQTs Course looking at the use of Moodle to support the curriculum, the Scheme of Work for KS3 and supporting resources.

Please contact Jan Morgan for more information and to book a place on the Primary Course and John Mills for information and to book a place on the Secondary Course. Both courses will run from 9:15am to 3:45pm. Please note that lunch will not be provided.

NAACE Art Competition

This year again, NAACE are inviting schools in 3 categories (Early Years& KS1, KS2 and KS3) to design artwork for the Naace Conference Magazine. The theme for this year’s Competition is: 3rd Millennium Learning – the Compelling Case for ICT.

The winners will receive a prize from a selection of ICT tools contributed by the Naace Sponsoring Partners and the Awards Ceremony will take place at the Naace Strategic Conference on Saturday 10 March at the Leicester Marriott.

More details about the competition and how to enter available from here.

Vill@ge Virtual World

Pupils from Dunvant Primary school have earned an award for their language learning skills.

Working with Vill@ge, the virtual online language learning environment in Second Life, the pupils have become mentors helping pupils from Greece and Hungary to learn the English language.

Visit the Vill@ge website here.

Sumdog Maths

A Swansea schoolboy was in a class of his own in a maths competition run on the Sumdog website. He was the overall winner with a score of 101,463 points and said “It makes maths fun and I get to play against my friends and other pupils across the world.”

Visit the Sumdog website here.

Read the full story on This Is South Wales.

Know IT All

Three resources have been produced by Childnet International to help trainee teachers and NQTs understand the e-safety issues within schools, as well as find advice for their own use of technology.

Click here to visit Know IT All for Trainee Teachers.