Sheffield School Awarded Runner-up in National Becta ICT Awards

Wednesday 14th November 2007

Sheffield school among top 20 in country for excellence in the delivery of ICT!

Oakwood School in Sheffield contended with schools from across the country to be awarded Runner-Up in the Inclusion category at the national Becta ICT Excellence Awards. The school was presented with its award in a ceremony held at The ICC (International Convention Centre) in Birmingham last week.

The ICT Excellence Awards are run annually by Becta, the Government's lead partner in the development and delivery of its technology strategy for schools. The awards reward schools that have used technology in outstanding or innovative ways, benefiting their whole community, inside and outside the school building.

Oakwood School and Young Persons' Centre is a special needs school on the site of a hospital and supports young people who are at all stages of the national curriculum. Becta praises the school for its exceptional use of ICT to support inclusive learning by increasing the presence, participation and achievement of all students at the school and in their local community. Highlights of the school’s ICT activity include weekly computer club meetings for parents and the creation of an intranet by staff and pupils. Each pupil has developed their own web page to showcase their work, examples of which include animation, films and multi-media pages.

The Award comes with a prize-fund of £1000 in cash which will contribute to further the development of ICT work in the school.

Wendy Dudley, Headteacher at Oakwood School, says: "We are absolutely delighted to be runner-up for the Secondary Inclusion ICT Excellence Award. We are a small school and very proud that our achievement has been recognised at a national level. I would like to pay tribute to the excellent team work of students and teachers at the school and thank South Yorkshire e-Learning Programme for their support, training and encouragement to apply for this award. What this means effectively is that we are among the top 20 schools in the country for delivering high-quality ICT."

The South Yorkshire e-Learning Programme (SYeLP) supported Oakwood by providing training for teachers, a new server for the school and software and hardware packages. SYeLP operates through a partnership of the four Local Authorities of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield and the South Yorkshire Learning and Skills Council funded through Objective 1. The aim of the Programme is to deliver the benefits of ICT in education and training in schools, homes, colleges, businesses and the community through enhanced learning and skills training.

Tricia Anderson, the Sheffield Project Manager for SYeLP, says: "Oakwood School is an excellent example of how ICT can benefit students' educational experience. I am delighted that SYeLP was able to support the school and its students in their development in this valuable area. The success of ICT in a school like Oakwood, which has very particular needs, demonstrates the flexibility e-learning can provide."