The work of the ICT Department at Abingdon School is intended to encourage the use of Information Technology in a variety of contexts: school, home, community, recreation, business and industry. In these contexts pupils are given opportunities to acquire competence, capability and critical skills through the implementation, use and evaluation of a range of Information Technology methods.
The School has four bookable ICT centres and several clusters of computers in various areas such as art and music as well as many single computers. They are all connected in a fast school-wide network with access to the Internet through a high-speed broadband link. The School has many interactive whiteboards and data projectors and excellent printing and audio-visual facilities.
The department teaches skills in the first two years. It also supports other departments in their use of ICT systems at all levels - aiming to encourage and develop a truly cross-curricular model for the use of ICT throughout the school. Our whole-school ICT strategy aims to give both pupils and staff the skills they require to access the school’s networked resources and the confidence to use applications software wherever they might need it in order to enhance teaching and learning throughout the school.
All departments are encouraged to use word processing, spreadsheet and presentation packages as part of their normal curriculum and many departments teach specific ICT skills using specialist software.
The aim in the first two years of ICT instruction is to achieve the following teaching objectives:
- Fundamentals
- Word processing
- Databases
- Spreadsheets
- Graphics
- Using the Internet: safety and netiquette
- CAD (Computer Aided Design)
- Information presentation
- Information retrieval
- Manipulating and plotting data
- Multimedia authoring and electronic publishing
- Modelling and simulation
- Computer programming
- Music composition and notation
- Web site creation
Project work by pupils is supported and encouraged through the provision of advice, software and hardware and boys can take part in individual or group projects in the ICT Workshop which runs every day and the Programming Club which runs one each week.
The work of the ICT department is not examination oriented. In practice its aim is to facilitate the use of ICT in a broad range of subjects throughout the whole school so that staff and pupils can enhance the learning in them by the offering of a wider experience. Pupils are encouraged to develop informed, intelligent and confident ICT abilities and attitudes which, as well as being of value in school, prepare them for their further education and careers.
At Abingdon, Information Technology is a service to the school, offering new media and techniques for the handling of information in its many forms. As such it challenges the ingenuity and creativity of pupils and staff.
Further Information
Further information about the ICT department curriculum can be found in the curriculum documents available for download on the main curriculum page.