Futurelab have sent us the following and some of the resources linked below will be just what school leaders have been looking for.

The biggest event for Norfolk Heads and teachers enthused about learning with ICT is undoubtably the annual Norfolk ICT Conference.  Our 2010 event on March 24th and 25th is special in many ways:

• Launch of the new e-learning strategy for Norfolk (2010-2014)
• Focus on learning spaces and the way ICT can enhance them
• Presentations by Norfolk Schools and Learners
• Innovation in learning through games, including the Futurelab 'SPARK' exhibition
• Keynotes, practical seminars and break out sessions by leading individuals and national agencies (Steve Moss, John Davitt, Partnership for Schools, Becta, Futurelab, E2BN)

For full details and booking please see the conference site.

Alex Savage, former AST for ICT and now in charge of the Training School at Notre Dame High School wrote to say:

Fronter is working really well for us now.  I am noticing a significant impact on the quality of learning.  The starts of lessons are more focussed.  Students can quickly access a wide range of digital resources and they are getting more regular feedback on their work through the Hand-in feature.

Let's just say that this is music to my ears, as it is exactly the kind of outcome we are looking for.  It has to be about learning in the end.  This is not to say that parental engagement, more efficient communication or time savings for teachers are not important, but in the end learning is just the most important aspect of all those things that learning platforms can make at difference with.

Earlier this week Ofsted publised a report on the safe use of technologies.  This is the summary from the Ofsted website:

'This report is based on evidence from a small-scale survey carried out between April and July 2009 in 35 maintained schools in England. It evaluates the extent to which the schools taught pupils to adopt safe and responsible practices in using new technologies, and how they achieved this. It also assesses the extent and quality of the training the schools provided for their staff. It responds to the report of the Byron Review, Safer children in a digital world.'

The key findings outline that managing and monitoring access is preferable to simply filtering sites.  Norfolk's policy advocates such an approach, as schools are encouraged to use e-safety monitoring tools (Securus) in conjunction with a more liberal filtering policy (e-learning caste).

The report also highlights the need to develop policies whilst listening to pupil and student views.  Norfolk has been providing templates and guidance for this process, which can be found on the e-safety section of the ICT Solutions website

The need for training and good monitoring of the impact of the training is also one of the outcomes of the survey.  The advisory services have been offering training sessions on e-safety and Pip Cartwright is leading the advice and support on this topic.