At Parochial, ICT is treated as both a discrete subject and a cross-curricular theme. That is to say, we use ICT as a means of enhancing our pupils’ learning. Among the main strengths of IT in the curriculum are that it encourages pupils to:

* redraft and refine their work much more easily and quickly than before.

* take more risks and try out more possibilities with a piece of work because changes can be easily made.

* test hypotheses because results can be displayed graphically quickly.

Our aim is to make our pupils IT capable by the time that they leave us. The National Curriculum defines an ‘IT capable’ pupil as one:

...characterised by an ability to use effectively IT tools and information to analyse, process and present information and to model, measure and control external events.

and the National Curriculum states that this involves:

A further - and central - aim of our IT teaching is to encourage and support our pupils to become autonomous learners, using a variety of software and hardware to find out things that they have an interest in, for themselves.

In addition to its own order and programmes of study as part of the National Curriculum, IT has an important part to play in the orders of all other National Curriculum subjects with the exception of PE. Subject orders for other subjects require that:

Pupils should be given opportunities, where appropriate, to develop and apply their information technology (IT).

Thus, we intend that subject schemes of work not only reflect this but include the appropriate use of ICT where possible.

At Parochial, all teachers are becoming IT capable and share responsibility for making our pupils IT capable. This process will be led by the school’s IT coordinator who is responsible for all aspects of IT throughout the school.