At Shinfield St. Mary's, we have invested in iPads for our pupils to use in all classrooms. Research on iPad use and adoption overwhelmingly reports that tablet devices have a positive impact on pupils' engagement with learning. Findings report increased motivation, enthusiasm, interest, engagement, independence and self-regulation, creativity and improved productivity.

Our iPads play a supporting role in our collaborative and exploratory learning. No technology has an impact on learning in its own right; rather, its impact depends on how it is used. This is why our teachers plan their usage carefully to ensure that impact is supporting teaching and learning to the greatest effect.

We use our iPads in most of our lessons to help us learn. We import worksheets and activities into Notability so that we can edit them together. When we use Google Docs or Slides, we can work together on the same slides at the same time! Also, all of our homework is set on Google Classroom, and it prepares us for secondary school where our homework will also be set online. 

Year 6 Pupil

Ratio of iPads to pupils across the school:

Year 3 - one iPad per two pupils

Year 4 - one iPad per two pupils

Year 5 - one iPad per pupil

Year 6 - one iPad per pupil

* plus one class set of laptops across the school.

 

Google for Education allows teachers in all year groups to use the following apps across all areas of our curriculum:

• Google Classroom
• Google Docs
• Google Slides
• Google Sheets

Teachers also use other non-Google apps such as Notability.