‘I’m quite used to making all the usual pleas for equipment and we collect every voucher going for computers, like the Tesco ones.’
Mrs Noel-Storr
Head of Redhill Primary School

Many five to eleven-year-old children at Redhill Primary School, Priorslee, Telford, can use Microsoft PowerPoint skilfully – because they use it regularly. Added to this, they use Microsoft Word and access the Internet without any qualms. To the children in this Midlands school, computing technology is a normal part of their day. They see it as a tool, much like a book or a pencil.

Head teacher Mrs Jenny Noel-Storr believes that, computing should just be an integral part of the everyday world of school, rather than a separate subject.

• She said: ‘Computing permeates all our classes. It’s not because I’m an IT freak, but because it has a powerful impact on learning. IT is part of the world, so it should not be seen as separate.’

Every classroom has three PCs, which the children can use at any time. There are no ‘now let’s use the computer’ sessions; instead, the PCs are there to be utilised.

• Mrs Noel-Storr explained: ‘I didn't want computing to be seen as a once a week treat. To get the best out of any tool, I believed the children should have constant reinforcement. If computers are in every class, the children will get used to them, and the Internet, as part of the curriculum.’

As with so many forward-thinking individuals, Mrs Noel-Storr’s attitude comes from personal experience. When she was a class teacher in the early 1970s, she had the chance to take home an old BBC Computer during a half-term break.

• ‘At the time my son was six years old and I remember him on the BBC Computer during the holiday. He started using a program called Logo and, within two days, he'd cracked it. Seeing how involved he was, and the huge impact it had on his learning, set me thinking,’ said Mrs Noel-Storr.

Mrs Noel-Storr became committed to using computers to boost children’s learning potential generally, rather than teaching computing as a separate skill.

• She explained: ‘In an art class, if you asked a child what they’d done, they would say what they had drawn and what it showed. They wouldn’t say they had used a crayon. But when children use computers and we ask them what they have done, we expect them to explain the command they used, rather than what they achieved.

• She added: ‘You don’t have to teach children computer skills in the same way you don’t have to teach them to breathe.’

The report had to be filmed again, because the producers wanted them to talk about how they were using the computers. The children were a bit taken aback, because their computer usage was so ‘normal’.

Talking to the children at Redhill Primary reveals some interesting thoughts and practices. Not one child is frightened of computers. In addition, each class has a plethora of children who have taught their parents how to use a computer.

Doubtless, this is partly because of the way in which computing and the Internet are seen as an integral part of every lesson. Indeed, Mrs Noel-Storr encourages teachers to incorporate some element of computing in as many of their lessons as possible.

With computers in each classroom, this is much easier than in schools that have a separate computing suite, plus Redhill Primary School uses ‘Smart Boards’ instead of traditional blackboards or whiteboards. A Smart Board is a whiteboard linked to a computer. It can project a computer screen and can link what is written on the whiteboard back to the computer.

• Mrs Noel-Storr said: ‘The Smart Boards make lessons much more interesting than a boring overhead projector. It's in colour, and if a teacher is asked a question, he/she can call up a useful web page, instantly, to discuss things.’

Although Redhill Primary School has the usual support from the local education authority to help finance such additions, Mrs Noel-Storr is not averse to finding alternative ways of getting the technology she wants:

• ‘I’m quite used to making all the usual pleas for equipment, and we collect every voucher going for computers, like the Tesco ones.’

Redhill Primary does benefit from being within a special education area. The local authority, the Telford and Wrekin Council, has been awarded ‘pathfinder status’ by the Government.

This means the area has been singled out for special funding, to lead the way with technology. Already, Telford and Wrekin Council has spent £7.5m on an inter-schools network.

The network also includes the largest educational video conferencing system in Europe. A further £4.5m has been spent in schools in the area, to provide additional software and on training teachers to use the system. Altogether, in the Telford and Wrekin area, some 24,500 schoolchildren in 86 schools can use the system.

This rosy picture of the school and the local education authority is not the complete view. Any serious reliance on technology is prone to difficulties. For instance, if a Smart Board fails to work properly, teachers may have to abandon parts of a well-planned lesson. There are also additional running costs.

• Mrs Noel-Storr explained: ‘Our biggest running costs are for printer cartridges. What the children see on the screen is often so interesting they want a print out.’

The other main difficulty is an educational one, and reflects the way the Internet has not yet come to accommodate children well. Many websites that have useful information for school children, are written for adults. This can make it difficult for young children to understand, as they may not have the literacy levels required.

• ‘Even so, it's not that bad,’ said Mrs Noel-Storr, ‘the children collaborate and work out what the words they see on screen may mean so, in a sense, the Internet is very good for raising literacy levels and promoting group working.’

Clearly, Redhill Primary School is a successful and fun place to learn. In a survey, 99 per cent of all Redhill parents said that their children enjoy going to school. Not many schools can report such a high level of enthusiasm.