Released on: May 18, 2010, 11:47 am
Author: Promethean
Industry: Education
Promethean ActivClassroom solutions help the new £16 million campus at St. Aidan's Church of England Academy, Darlington, achieve a dramatic turnaround in school attendance and academic results.
Since the implementation of the Promethean ActivClassroom with interactive whiteboards (IWB), the Academy has been transformed from one of the country's "least effective" schools to a thriving centre of secondary education and beacon of ICT best practice.
Assistant principal, Alan Dick, commented: "We know that technology is a vital part of students' lives, and we were determined to place it at the heart of our improvement strategy. This approach has paid immediate dividends, renewing students' enthusiasm for lessons and giving a welcome boost to their results."
Whereas only 19% of students left the school with five 'good' (A*-C) GCSE grades in 2006, this had doubled in 2009, with 39% of students achieving the benchmark – well above the national target of 30%.
Key to this transformation has been the role of classroom technology in addressing student attendance and improving the former school's ranking as eighth worst in the national truancy league.
Alan Dick added: "Since the opening of the Academy, attendance levels have increased from 81% to over 90% – in a class of thirty, that's the equivalent of three students turning up to class who were previously disengaged from lessons. The improvement has been influenced by a number of factors but it's clear that students are more motivated by the use of tools such as electronic whiteboards and learner response keypads, meaning that they look forward to lessons and find it easier to participate.
These results support a recent poll by Becta, the Government agency responsible for promoting the use of ICT in schools. It reported that 95% of teachers now recognise that use of technology is raising standards in schools and colleges (Becta Raising Standards, 2009).
The transformation from school to Academy was achieved in just six months, making it one of the fastest in the country. Despite this, the Academy was rigorous in ensuring a well-thought out implementation process for the new technologies.
Margaret Allen, head of European market development at Promethean commented: "The success story of St. Aidan's Church of England Academy demonstrates the power of interactive technology to revitalise learning, motivate students and improve academic results. The tools implemented at the academy support an innovative and inclusive approach to teaching which has been key to its recent and continuing success."
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About Promethean - Lighting the flame of learning
Promethean's aim is to unlock the potential of human achievement in education and training at all ages around the world. It does so by creating, developing, supplying and supporting leading edge, interactive learning technology and by encouraging the growth of the world's largest online teacher community in this field. In these ways, Promethean is helping bring to life the promise of 21st century learning, improving engagement and results for learners and teachers alike.
The market for interactive learning technology is fast growing and global. In this market, Promethean is a world leader. Developed for teachers, Promethean's ActivClassroom brings its ActivBoard IWB system together with interactive whiteboard resourceslike its learner response systems (ActiVote and ActivExpression) and ActivInspire suite of specialised educational software. They change how teachers and classes engage and interact, how students learn and how they are monitored and assessed.
Headquartered in the UK and listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange as Promethean World Plc (ticker symbol 'PRW'), Promethean's technology is today helping educate over 12 million individuals in over 500,000 classrooms in some 100 countries.
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