is it possible to opt out of using computers within the state system?

[zebramummy]

i hate computers - i know, i am sitting here staring at one - however, i managed to avoid them until i started working in my twenties and yes, they were around prior to this mainly for wordprocessing, designing and games although email and internet had not really taken off. i have always felt privately disgusted by the two computers at ds' nursery and i strongly believe that they are completely uneccesary and have no place within an early years setting. i have heard about ICT at school and i am starting to get the feeling that it is a non-negotiable part of school-life. am i the only person who feels this way?

As a primary school teacher I would find it incredibly have a pupil in my class who wasn't allowed to use computers.

In my classroom last year I did lots of ICT through other subjects
A few examples are

using MP3 players to record themselves reading - storing this in their own folder - listening to it and identifying areas they can improve. (Reading)
taking digital photos of each other, editing them, and importing then in to a WP package as part of a unit of biography (Literacy)
writing plays videoing and editing them (RE)
interviewing grandparents - editing and uploading the interviews (History)
creating multimedia presentations to advertise our class bussiness
using plasticene to create 5 minute animations (never again!)

If your child was in my class and was not able to take part in these activities I feel they would be missing out on lots of learning experiences.

Just wanted to add I am in upper KS2, but pupils in Reception do lots of equally valid ICT related activities

lol @ othersideofthefences "never again"

FAQ - those plasticene figures and mini sets will haunt me forever.
Mid filming I accidently knocked over a set (they were in shoeboxes)and a main character's head rolled off and was trodden on - the angst was unbelieveable!
It takes thousands of shots to create minutes of animation - the children were real perfectionists and I was so pround of their finished work. I don't think Disney has much to worry about!

Seriously, an activity like that is about so much more than ICT.
Planning/teamwork/bilingualism (audio was in Welsh)maths/problem-solving/art/dt/literacy/music (they composed the musical accompaniment)
It saddens me that the OP would want her children to be excluded from these sorts of opportunities.

oh no I can imagine the angst of a head being lost and squashed .

Sounds like great fun (if a little time consuming)

Interesting! So if you have computers, your kids are 'screening' all the time?
I put an Apple mac at my ex husband's house to video conference my kids when they stay over there. I have a PC in my 8 yr old son's room. In addition, we have a play station, Wii, xbox, 2 further laptops and a top of the range PC, oh and PSP's and DS's. But, guess what my 8 year old son does most of the time, his choice? 1. read (sometimes a book a day). 2. play football. 3. swim (clubs and lessons). 4. just play out. 5. watch TV. 6. handwrites his story, and somewhere on the list he does karate, and then further along, goes on one of the PC's or games machines. He chose to go on the PC for 1 hour total last month. Seriously, you can't assume that having these machines means the child will not do anything else. But if you think they will...

There's software you can install on a PC that will ban websites,and you can uninstall certain programs (like MSN). I think Microsoft Vista allows you to do this too. You don't need to police them. You can set them up in the first place how you want them.

I use a PC to manage my home finances - I just couldn't do what I do without computers.

But back to the point - using them in schools. I do have an issue unless schools overuse them But, don't really think they do. My 8 year old son says he rarely uses a computer at his school. My 6 year old said she uses a computer a tiny amount of time at school.

The earlier someone learns to use something as complicated as a computer, the more it becomes second nature to them, like riding a bike, driving a car, etc.

I also believe that unless its for religious reasons, children should be given the options to decide for themselves whether they will benefit or not from being fluent with computers. A lot of adults hate them, because they learnt how to use them late, they don't really understand them, they use them in a very limited way and so manual methods are better for them anyway, and they assume kids will use them for negative things, and so on. I do think it's a good thing that ICT is on the national curriculum.

Having said all this. If you do want your child to keep away from computers at school, chat to the head, explain your reasons and you might get somewhere. And when it comes to Secondary school, yes it's a core subject, but they can always just not bother and fail it. But when it comes to doing homework for other subjects, they do now ask for presentations, word processed essays, and so on. But you can get your kids to draw posters and neatly handwrite instead, and just get them to hand it in like that no matter what! It would be accepted. If your kids go on to further and higher education though, they would need then to learn to use computers. Also, for almost all jobs, they will need basic computing skills. There will be basic computer training available for people at all ages for some time, but there will come a time when having the skill is assumed, because it's now part of the national curriculum.

OMG you luddite

absolutely unreasonable and really rather odd - you can opt out by home educating I suppose

Blimey FAQ - a 5 minute animation! I am IN AWE! With our Y2s, 13 groups of children managed to produce about 15 secs animation each (max) - each group took ONE HOUR to film! Amazing experience through Change Schools though.

When the new primary curriculum becomes law
Literacy numeracy and ICT will be the new core subjects and obviously not optional.

how odd.

Sorry , it wasn't you FAQ it was othersideofthefence!

Why is it odd to have, as a core curriculum subject, something which has an impact on EVERY part of our lives?

Striner schools don't use computers.

trikerg - the 5 minutes animations were created over 3 terms. So really it was about 2 minute of animation made per term. It wasn't going to be such a long term project but the children were so interested (some of the Y6 even stayed behind after school to work on them) that it just grew and grew. In the Summer term their shorter sections were edited together. Mind you - I have said never again

steiner schools believe in gnomes...

I understood Lal123's 'how odd' comment to be at the OP, not having ICT as a core curriculum object (is that right??)

Of course what is odd is that the OP, who hates the idea of her DC using a computer at nursery/school so much, seems to have using internet chat rooms as her own hobby!! What ideas about computers does she think her DC are going to pick up at home???

msled if that is your attitude to steiner schools then you are

But they do. It's part of the 'philosophy' (aka 'mumbo jumbo')

tit ter

Steiner and gnomes - you can even buy a book in which he explains it all - he was clairvoyant you know (aka mad)
209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:sk9asw-wXzkJ:www3.mistral.co.uk/wellspringbooks/general.htm+gnomes+ste iner&cd=10&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

shuffles, blushes, admits she couldn't do all the computer work that primary school class of otherside's were doing.

"using MP3 players to record themselves reading - storing this in their own folder - listening to it and identifying areas they can improve. (Reading)
taking digital photos of each other, editing them, and importing then in to a WP package as part of a unit of biography (Literacy)
writing plays videoing and editing them (RE)
interviewing grandparents - editing and uploading the interviews (History)
creating multimedia presentations to advertise our class bussiness"

is this the kind of thing all primary school dc are learning now?

I can spell business honest!

ZZZenAgain, my class are Y6, so this is the final year in primary.

gosh! i signed off after my OP last night - never realised that it would provoke such a debate.
pointydog - no this is not a windup thread - i was merely voicing genuine concerns and i am glad to have found a few kindred spirits ftr.
notanotter - i can fully identify with many of the sentiments expressed in your posts though i suspect opting out completely would likely involve a long drawn-out battle. i just felt that delaying IT until year 3 would make sense as reading and writing using books would have been established by then. i am extremely wary of websites that supposedly teach children to do either of these.

i had considered steiner education and researched it at length but it would have involved a lot of travelling for ds so i opted for a well-regarded state primary instead. for all i know another parent may have already set a precedent at the school - i have not yet got to the stage of publicly voicing my objections.

georgimama - i was quite surprised by your post describing me as "stupid". it was objectionable on many levels - rude in that you were 'talking about me' to another MNer rather than responding to me as the OP and also not really in keeping with how people communicate on MN as far as i am concerned. you would have to be pretty dumb to call somebody "stupid" because they express an opinion which you don't happen to share, right? moreover, it is ok to disagree with an opinion but pretty reckless to write-off the person ts as being "stupid" - for the record i could have an oxbridge double first and a string of accolades proving otherwise?? I agreed to let computers into my life because i was handling the business affairs of one of the biggest cos and they required it. having picked it up rapidly i realised that i had not been missing anything and whilst there is undoubtedly a need for computers within the workplace, to deal with certain SEN at school and (within limit) at home, i am not convinced that computers also have a role to play at infant school level.