Crickhowell School, Wales; Leading in Education and ICT Excellence and Revolutionising Classroom Teaching

Since The Adoption of New Technology in Crickhowell School Wales, Teachers and Students Alike Have Witnessed a Revolution in the Way Education and Content Is Delivered. In This Study We Investigate Their Story

We had already met some of the school’s key representatives at the BETT 2011 education technology show in London’s Olympia in January. They had explained enthusiastically that the staff team at the school were devoted to bringing the latest technologies and ICT opportunities to their education programme.  Before we visited Crickhowell in April, we thought we’d do some research ourselves and took a look at the school’s website to find out a bit more about their history and culture.  It was clear from the outset that the school was delivering strong results and we learned that nearly three quarters of the school’s students were achieving at least five grades A* – C at GCSE with further students going on to achieve extremely strong results post 16.  
  

 

Our next stop was across the corridor and a right turn into the Science Department where we met Liz Bush the school’s Head of Science.  Although Liz wasn’t teaching at the time she was keen to speak to us.  She explained that she had set up what she called ‘The Crickhowell Periodic Table Challenge’ which combined an interactive memory game with revision study of the periodic table elements.  “Everyone at the school loves it and it’s become a school wide challenge”.

 

“With the Panasonic, I can plug in my net book, use sound through the built-in speakers and even access E-Chalk resources for Key Stage 4 education.  I would definitely recommend other schools seeking a better whiteboard solution to check out this one”.

 

The school is known for its forward thinking approach to IT and had no less than five fully functioning PC equipped rooms plus two trolleys for mobile computers and net books and an interactive whiteboard in every single classroom.  Every teacher is able to bring digital content in, either via the Internet, on a USB stick or on a provided net book PC, which could be displayed on the Panasonic whiteboards and used as a part of a lesson; one of the reasons why they were so popular amongst both students and staff.

 

In the IT classroom we took a close look at the boards and whilst moving images across the screen with touch, rotating images and stretching them much like on a tablet computer the Head of IT explained that the control interface was so much smoother than other boards he had tried, added to that, the surface offered greater durability.  

 

 

 

Next we meet Head teacher, Jackie was great and explained about the school’s philosophy towards technology and put it simply; “ICT is as important these days as English , Maths and Science”.  She went on to give details of the  lesson she had  taught in, “what was fascinating was  to see the way in which the students have embraced the technology and regularly use the Panaboards to facilitate their own learning and presentations.” said Jackie.    

Without getting too immersed in technical details of the boards Crickhowell had specified, we asked about the touch sensitivity of the screen, “it’s very familiar for everyone, they are 100% easy to use and that’s why we took them on board… It’s also a good way to help stretch the imagination and practical ability of everyone to embrace the new technology” added Jackie. 

 

 

The various meetings and conversations we had with the teachers and the pupils throughout the day felt just as varied as how every teacher was using the Panasonic UB-T880 interactive whiteboards, it was obvious the school was an extremely good example of technology innovation in action and from what we were told by others, it was already streets ahead in Wales.