This programme focuses on ways to help with report writing, assessment and examination duties.
We visit Stiperstones C of E Primary, a small rural school in the Shropshire hills run by headteacher Mark Klektot, who is a early-adopter of all things IT. Using a tablet computer, they have made a major change to the amount of time spent on pupils' annual reports.
Instead of writing reports taking about an hour per pupil, then spending 15 minutes with the parents discussing it, they decide to invite both parent and child into the school for a half-hour consultation. During this time, they write the report together. Once the parents leave, the teacher spends 10 minutes tidying it up and the report is ready. Thirty-five minutes per pupil is saved!
Developed in Leeds, INCERTS is a very easy-to-use web-based system on which teachers record their pupils' progress. Developed over fourteen years by Alan Padden, headteacher at a primary school, the system shows on simple colour-coded pages and charts exactly what each pupil and each class knows, understands, and can do. Tasks like lesson planning and report-writing can then be done in minutes rather than hours. In addition, curriculum coordinators and headteachers can quickly check for "dips" and "gaps" across the whole school.
Then in Derby, Doreen Steggles, a member of the admin team at West Park Community Secondary School, has taken over the role of examination officer. Traditionally done by a teacher, Doreen now has sole responsibility over all examination related duties: the entries, the secretarial work, setting out the room, making sure that the tables are a certain distance apart and that the correct instructions are read out.
