With just 54 pupils Kirkmichael Primary School in Perthshire may be small, but it thinks big in equipping its children with IT skills.
The rural school has provided a laptop or tablet for each of its children and is now aiming for a national digital award.
Some Scottish secondary schools – including Brechin High School and Bertha Park High School – have issued a device to every pupil but it’s a rare accomplishment among primary schools.
The school is also a step ahead of the Scottish Government’s pledge to provide a device for every schoolchild during this parliamentary term.
How did they do it?
Head teacher Craig Loudon said it had taken the school and its parent council six years to build up the stock of devices – but the result has been worth every penny and minute.
He said: “It really has transformed how our classrooms work.”
Using its own budget, fundraising by the parent council and community grants – including from Mount Blair Community Council and SSE Renewables Drumderg Community Fund – the school has invested in £22,000-worth of laptops for P4 to P7 children, iPads for P1 to P3 pupils, devices for the nursery and charging stations.
What difference does it make?
As well as being well prepared for another lockdown or pupils self-isolating, youngsters are benefiting from the enhanced IT in the classroom day-to-day.
With laptops set up and ready to go for each individual child, learning is unhampered by the IT obstacles regularly encountered in sharing devices.
Children use educational applications such as Sumdog and First News, and teachers give instant feedback rather than handing back marked jotters the next day.
Mr Loudon said he was unaware of any other primary school with laptops or tablets for every child.
The ambition was set out under the previous head teacher, when Mr Loudon was depute, and he said: “It’s taken us five, six years but we are there.”
The school now hopes to be given digital school status by Digital Schools Awards Scotland.
We feel we are giving them skills for life, secondary school, university and the workplace.”
Head teacher Craig Loudon
Both pupils and their parents had, Mr Loudon said, upskilled during lockdown in using IT and online learning resources.
He said: “Children need a certain level of IT skills. Youngsters now are a lot more tech savvy and able to use an iPad, certainly, but it’s a different skill using a laptop with a keyboard to swiping on a tablet.
“The children love having their own laptops and producing their work on them.
“They still have jotters, because they need to practise their handwriting, for example, but we feel we are giving them skills for life, secondary school, university and the workplace.”
Parent council and community support
Parent council chairperson, Rowan Lutton, thanked the local community council and SSE Renewables for their recent grants and said: “The staff and pupils are so pleased with the technology; not only because of the enhanced learning opportunities in school, but also because home learning can now be more easily supported when required.”
The Kirkmichael Primary School laptops provision was praised by Perth and Kinross Council lifelong learning convener Caroline Shiers.
She said: “Kirkmichael Primary School, in the same way as other council schools, receives ongoing investment in its IT provision and has been able to apply for additional equipment during the period of the pandemic.
“This investment has also been supplemented by the fundraising by Kirkmichael Primary School’s parent council and Mount Blair Community Council, highlighting how supportive the local community are of the school.
“I am delighted Kirkmichael Primary is now up for a national award reflecting the importance placed on children learning digital skills and I wish them every success.”
