Apple Distinguished School

‘The Road Ahead’ – Windlesham’s Vision For Technology

Windlesham’s vision for technology, the ‘Road Ahead’, aims to provide students with the necessary skills to develop into skilful users of technology who are able to make the right choices when learning and as part of the daily life.

The Road Ahead provides a framework which integrates technology so that it is seen as an integral tool which supports curriculum learning by enhancing and transforming learning and teaching experiences. These tools support learning beyond the classroom by providing opportunities to learn at any time and anywhere and provide learners with the skills to make use of technology to create, curate and publish content.

Learning experiences are designed to support and encourage independent learning, critical thinking and to support and encourage collaboration. A major outcome is to ensure that Windlesham students enter senior schools as responsible digital citizens who are able to use technology responsibly and recognise and avoid potential pitfalls.

With a dedicated teaching faculty, programs have been established to develop staff into well qualified and skilful users of technology who are able to design innovative learning

We aim to make every lesson as challenging and as exciting as possible; each child is encouraged to think, to question, to contribute, and to be creative.

The learning environment has been designed to be friendly and stimulating, so that all feel valued and able to participate. Pupils are encouraged to give their best, to think independently and to work collaboratively and creatively, irrespective of ability.

The iPad has helped us to support our approach to learning as it provides learners with what we consider the perfect tool for the 21st century classroom.

Learning experiences focus on using the technology to enhance and transform educational experiences whilst offering the opportunity for pupils to be creative, collaborative and develop thinking skills.

Creativity is a core element of our approach to using the iPad in the classroom. Our focus has been very much on allowing our students to create as part of the learning process as this has a greater impact on learning outcomes.

Apple’s creative suite of tools have allowed us to do exactly this and when given the choice, learners naturally gravitate towards using these native applications in order to demonstrate their understanding of a particular concept.

Given that the majority of our pupils are boarders, we have clearly defined and articulated systems in place. It is important to have a set daily routine which they are able to follow and be aware of the sanctions should they not follow these guidelines.

There will always be challenges when using devices at school, however, by setting out the rules of the road and clear parameters, we have been able to minimise issues and clearly define what the iPad is to us – a learning tool. 

Future plans include:

• Developing our use of the Apple pencil/keyboard across different subject areas

• Continuing to develop our digital learning to further enhance and transform teaching and learning

• Developing our programmes to further support pupils, staff and parents

• Becoming a centre of excellence which shares best practice with other educational organisations

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