Ribble Drive Primary School – Promethean Grant Case Study 2017

A little bit about us…

Ribble Drive Community Primary School is located in the town of Whitefield in Greater Manchester. At Ribble Drive we challenge ourselves to make sure every pupil meets their full potential and has an enthusiasm for discovery and learning.

With a key focus on such enthusiasm we have adopted a vision for all the children at our school to have positive learning experiences and be aware of the endless opportunities that await them. Ribble Drive holds values that enable pupils to live well in society and effectively deal with challenges that the modern world presents.

Our staff work tirelessly to create a lively, creative curriculum that challenges and motivates pupils, encouraging them to participate in a range of high quality learning opportunities in a stimulating environment. At Ribble Drive, we subscribe to the educational philosophy that excellent teaching and learning opportunities will not only develop each child’s academic potential but also help them develop as a well-rounded individual in society.

Why we entered…

Many of our interactive whiteboards in the school are becoming outdated and can no longer be used effectively in lessons due to the failing operating systems, equipment and displays. The interactive whiteboard in our Reception class had almost completely lost all functionality, meaning the children were missing out learning opportunities. We had wanted to update the technology in the Reception class for a while, but due to dwindling school budget we had been unable to replace the board. We needed an interactive front of class display that hosted a range of software and apps that the children could use every day to enhance their development. It was important to us to have an interactive display that the Reception children could use in small groups and that was particularly touch sensitive, so it could be used for tasks that required precise hand eye coordination such as letter formation and shapes.

When we found out about the Promethean Grant scheme on Twitter through one of the Promethean Advocates, we knew we had to enter. This was a golden opportunity for us to be in with the chance of winning the latest edtech for our Reception children. At Ribble Drive we have a passion for enhancing teaching using technology and firmly believe it is an enabler in supporting children’s learning and development. We knew that winning an ActivPanel would be the perfect solution to replacing the Reception class whiteboard and that it would be extremely beneficial to further engage the children in learning activities.

What winning means to us…

We were amazed when we found out we were winners, we honestly couldn’t believe our luck. The reaction to winning has been phenomenal.

The quality of the display, the software and interactive features on the ActivPanel are amazing. All the staff at the school have taken a keen interest in it and have been thinking of ways in which they would be able to use an ActivPanel to support their lesson delivery. The win has reaffirmed to us just how important it is to keep technology up to date in the school and how technology can really enhance the children’s learning experiences.

Our Reception class has been fully engaged with working on the ActivPanel from day one. It was amazing to see how quickly they picked up using it and enjoy the interactive activities. In early years teaching it is so important for the children to learn through play, the interactive games and apps on the ActivPanel are really stimulating and interesting for the children. They’re learning so much without even realising it.

At the beginning of every day we use the ActivPanel for ‘Wake & Shake’ where we get the children to engage with singing and dancing activities. We also use the panel to reinforce skills such as counting, number recognition and initial sounds. Watching and listening to interactive stories is a favourite, they really captivate the attention of the children. Another activity that is surprisingly effective in engaging the children is watching the penguins at Edinburgh Zoo on the live web cam. The image on the ActivPanel is amazingly clear, and the children become totally immersed in what is on the screen. We then get them to draw penguin shapes on the panel using the instant whiteboard app. Following reading the Blue Penguin book, the children really wanted to see what Beluga whales looked like, so we were able to get videos of them up on the on the display.

As a school we are incredibly grateful to win an ActivPanel. The Promethean Grant is a wonderful and generous scheme that has enabled us to enhance the learning experiences of the children in our Reception class. Without such an amazing initiative we wouldn’t have been able to upgrade the tech.

Our killer three tips for the Promethean Grant…

1. Include a teacher perspective – we used a teacher voice to explain how an ActivPanel would support lesson delivery and pupils learning experiences.
2. Show your existing school tech – we made sure we showed how our existing technology was letting us down.
3. Check out the competition – we looked at other school’s entries for inspiration and ideas, there are so many fantastic entries online for people to see.