Clitheroe high school selected to lend support to school technology

Ribblesdale High has been hand picked as one of only 20 nationally to support schools develop their education technology.
Year 7 pupil Edith makes the most of technology while studying at home during lockdownYear 7 pupil Edith makes the most of technology while studying at home during lockdown
Year 7 pupil Edith makes the most of technology while studying at home during lockdown

Working as part of a three-school consortium, the Clitheroe high has been selected by the Department for Education to head the only Edtech Demonstrator School in the region.

They will get more than £70,000 to work on the project over the next year. The school is part of a consortium consisting of Hambleton Primary Academy, one of the 10 schools in the Fylde Coast Academy Trust, and Highfurlong Special School in Blackpool. The leaders of the three schools have established a broad range of support for other schools across the sectors.

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Ribblesdale headteacher, Stephen Cox, said: “We are thrilled that our collective expertise and experience is being harnessed by this programme to support a wide range of schools.

The current situation has forced all schools to be highly dependent upon remote learning, adjusting to a very new way of working. We look forward to supporting colleagues in other institutions, aiding their students to experience the very best teaching, learning and wider support which can be afforded by remote learning solutions.”

The Clitheroe school has a long history of using technology within teaching and learning amongst its 1,300 pupils and has partnered with Microsoft as a training academy for the last three years, sharing its expertise both nationally and globally.”

During the current situation with COVID-19, the school migrated its approach to teaching and learning to use Microsoft Teams as the main delivery platform for teaching, staff meetings, staff training, pastoral support, recruitment processes and even the weekly staff quiz night!

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Mr Cox commented further: “We were fortunate in that we have invested heavily in new technologies and MS Teams was already widely used in lessons and across the school before the current situation unfolded. Adjustments have been made to how we deliver our curriculum during this period, but with all of our pupils in years 7-10 having a laptop managed by the school’s IT services as well as all staff having school devices, the transition has been without major technical issues. Clearly, remote learning is no substitute for face-to-face contact but, given the situation, we feel our young people are getting the best support they possibly can. We are eager to share our experience and knowledge wherever it can help”.

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