CASE STUDY
SIMPLE CLASSROOM TABLET SOLUTIONS
HOW IMPLEMENTING LEARNPAD HAS RAISED
STANDARDS IN SCHOOLS IN DEPRIVED AREAS
P
inewood School is located in Shrivenham, between Wiltshire
and Oxfordshire. The school offers a quality, family-based coeducational day and boarding environment for children aged
three to thirteen.
USING THE LEARNPAD TO ENHANCE LEARNING OUTSIDE
THE CLASSROOM: THE CHALLENGE
Ruth Hall, the school’s Director of Education discusses how they
decided which devices the school would invest in, and why.
“We knew we wanted to head down the tablet route, but with children
at Pinewood ranging from three through to thirteen, we needed
something that would cover the breadth of the school, and provide us
with one system that was suitable for each year group.
To start with, we considered our priorities. We knew we wanted to
invest in tablets that were not only geared for education, but that
would also allow our pupils to practise the skills that they’ve picked up
at home, and use them in an educational way.”
THE PERFECT SOLUTION
“The main appeal of the LearnPad was the fact that it is has been
developed specifically with education and schools in mind, and
that really is evident. I also liked the fact that it combines all of the
technology which, whether we like it or not, children are using at home
- so they are already familiar with it.
LearnPad offers a classroom
tablet solution that enhances,
supports and simplifies teaching
and learning. Implementing
LearnPad gives teachers an
intuitive way to supervise and
control student devices, lessons
and activities, easily enabling
differentiation of instruction and
access to digital content.
We purchased a set of Octavo and Quarto LearnPads. The beauty of
both, for Pinewood specifically, is the detachable keypads which allow
the three-year-old pupils to take the attachment off and still wander
around with the tablet. The older children, who often need to take
the tablets back to the classroom and actually type something up, can
simply slot it back on and type away - that really is brilliant for us!”
SUPPORTING THE SCHOOL’S ETHOS
“Part of Pinewood’s ethos is outside learning; we won an award for
Learning Outside the Classroom, and the LearnPad really does support
that. A good example of this is from a recent Science lesson, when a
class of our six-year-old pupils were learning about habitats. They went
off in pairs and looked at different types of environments around the
school; for example, some of them found a flower and some found a
log. They used the LearnPad to photograph and record their findings.
They then discussed with their partner what types of creatures might
live in those habitats, and went back with the LearnPads to try and find
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CASE STUDY
SIMPLE CLASSROOM TABLET SOLUTIONS
those creatures and see whether they were right.
Tasks like this are great, because they encourage pupils to practise
all their IT skills, whilst getting a true record with a photo (unlike a
drawing, which might not show you how many legs an ant has!). The
information can also be used in our data handling topics (“we found
this number of ants under this log”, for example). Being able to go
outside with the tablets or even just around the school is perfect.”
ADDITIONAL BENEFITS
“We love the fact that even our nursery children can use them, which
is exactly what we wanted! Higher up the school, we have a very IT
literate History teacher who uses the LearnPads with our scholars;
they use them for research and for importing information; this really
does demonstrate the LearnPad’s flexibility and its use throughout the
whole school.
In addition, we have a programme in the school where we train
teachers in-house. All of the training teachers borrow the tablets and
are really keen to use them. The Learning Skills department are also
trialling them, with the view to them having some for their one-to-one
lessons – they’re particularly excited about some of the apps they can
use, and the speech recognition feature.”
“The use of the LearnPad is
never at the detriment of
written communication either;
we still consider handwriting
to be extremely important and
we do everything we can to get
the balance right!”
WHAT’S NEXT?
“We love the fact that even our nursery children can use them, which
is exactly what we wanted! Higher up the school, we have a very IT
literate History teacher who uses the LearnPads with our scholars;
they use them for research and for importing information; this really
does demonstrate the LearnPad’s flexibility and its use throughout the
whole school.
Overall, we’re using LearnPads in many areas of the school and that’s
because they’re very user-friendly, and they have clearly been set up
with schools firmly in mind. I can’t express enough how important that
is! At the same time, they have the look and feel of other technology
that children are using at home and are familiar with, so it makes them
feel ‘grown-up’ and excited that they’re using a tablet.
The LearnPad is perfect for us, so perfect that we plan to buy another
trolley of them in the not so distant future. Based on their positive
feedback, I know our staff and pupils will be glad to hear it!”
0845 862 0390
[email protected]
twitter.com/learnpad
facebook.com/learnpad
www.learnpad.com