If you had a magic wand....

[webbygeek91]

And you could change your childs school for the better technology wise, what would you like to see implemented/taught/run?

I know not strictly AIBU, but I have a interview on Monday at a school for a possible work placement to assist schools with IT provision and wanted to know what you think from a parents POV as I need to come up with some ideas, and thought this would be the best place to post to get replies quickly!

A properley run and effective online learning zone. Our LEA has one, we have DS's username and password, we have tried to particpate - the school han't uploaded the things it said would be uploaded, DS did one of the excercises and asked a question...tumbleweed...it must have cost thousands and thousands.
And can I find the date of the out-of-hours concert they are doing at a differnt venue anywhere on the schools website? Nope, I have to wait for a bloody hard copy to arrive in the book bag with 2 weeks notice.

I would like them to USE the IT they have!

Lovely stuff. Quite interesting is I would be helping develop their new VLE so am aware that these issues would be very important.

Anyone else?

Bumpy, please feel free to add seriously whatever you want no-matter how crazy it may sound!

An online library of past exam papers and model answers - accessible to parents and pupils from home in plenty of time for revision. Model 'perfect' coursework examples too.

These can be bought from the various examination boards directly but how many parents know their child's exam board by subject (or even that past papers exist).

I sat my GCSEs at a normal state school, I was top of the class in most subjects but the first time I saw an actual real exam paper was for the mock exam a month before. No other actual papers then until the real exams. Being unfamiliar with the format slows you down, even if you are good at the subject you are at a disadvantage if you have not practised your exam method.

I moved to a public school for my A levels - by the time I sat my final exams there I had worked through every relevant previous paper set and gone through every model answer written by the board. I knew exactly what was in my syllabus and how the ideal answer was supposed to be phrased.

After university I tutored A level resit candidates using mainly past papers based on my experience and estimate that familiarity with the system raised them by a grade on average. All resit colleges do the same.

'model' not 'model model'

Toffee Penny, Thanks very much for your input- that would work really well I bet. Anyone else want to add their 2p?

Another bumpy, seriously anyone with ideas please add them no-matter how silly they may sound!

Our infants school has recently (last year) started emailing newsletters etc home to parents who sign-up - rather than having to serach through the book bag and then lose the slip. That's great for me especially.

However, the other REALLY useful thing they've done is an "e-booking" system for parents evenings, and end of term things where parents need to book tickets. It's SO much easier to be able to log in from home than faff around with the slip.

Texting/emailing parents when they are shutting due to adverse weather conditions. School doesn't even notify the local radio station so we either clog their phones up (and annoy them!) or trudge along to find they've shut when we get to the school gate.

So yeah. Mass texting facility.

E-booking system sounds very doable.

Any other ideas?

Bumpy :)

an updated website would be nice

Our school is just introducing a parent pay (like paypal) system for scjool lunches (I imagine it will be expanded to all stuff soon to reduce the cash / banking work in the school office). It sounds quite good as you can link siblings accounts so pay for all your children at once.

Ask me in a month if I still feel the same

Oh and our school use both educationcity and mathletics in the classroom and each child has a password for at home, which work well for homework too.

Thanks very much :)

I think BLU had a very valid suggestion - review the tools currently in place and check they are a)being used effectively and b) marketed well so that everyone (teachers, support staff, children and parents)knows about them.

Outdated websites happen much more often than they should. Frustrating to look for school events to find last year's calendar. Also can be vulnerable to interest of individual teachers (eg Boys' rugby features in detail, no mention of girls' hockey)

ParentMail is good - no more lost letters at the bottom of school bags.

eBooking would have been wonderful but sadly too late for me (DC2 leaves next year).

ParentPay also sounds a great idea (does anyone actually use cheques for ANYTHING apart from school and children's clubs theses days?)

My DC used the learning zone very well but I never knew much about it. Training sessions to bring parents up to speed?

Parentmail- now thats an idea!

I have to second the bulk texting for school closures/late openings etc. It worked really well in the dd's last school. Also used if school trips were running late and to remind of world book day, parents eve's, PTA do's etc.

If using e-mail for communiction, regular checks that all parents are covered as I missed the e-mails for the first part of this term for some reason.

e-booking for parents eve sounds great.

The nursery and reception have interactive white boards and they are used a lot and effectively but the rest of the school don't seem to have any which will be a shock when they move on.

Homework timetables/schedules available on line would be good.

DC not at school yet, but I am a teacher.

IWBs are great, use mine every day but I've never had much proper training and I know there are programmes and functions on it that I'm probably not even aware of. So, staff training to actually use the resources in school properly. If that's what you meant, rather than buying resources.

We also need more digital cameras and camcorders. Tried to record my class performing drama activities and discovered that the cameras would only hold less than 5 mins of film - so impossible to film them really as we kept having to stop, upload, wipe camera, start again. Having stuff on film is really important for AfL and APP and getting the children to evaluate their own performances/speaking and listening.

If I was a parent at the school, I imagine I would want a decently run website and text message reminders sound great. Also decent, regularly updated learning zone/platform - we have one, but again I've had no training and am fumbling my way round using it, and I know I'm not using it to it's full potential.