The Silver Winners of the 2022 Pearson National Teaching Awards, from Muirtown Primary School, shared their experiences with digital innovation in learning and teaching with Education Committee Members.
Head Teacher at the school, Janice MacRae said: “The last 4 years has seen a transformation in the ways in which we have utilised digital technology with Muirtown Primary School. The allocation of Chromebooks, along with the unprecedented lockdown in 2020, provided us with the means and impetus to broaden our digital skills as a school, in order to provide a rounded and meaningful home learning experience for our pupils, in exceptional and often turbulent circumstances.
“Not only did staff dedicate time to undertaking an intensive program of online training sessions throughout the lockdown period, but we also sought to use digital technology to streamline administrative processes so that pupils could participate in the life and culture of the school, even from a distance.”
One of the ways the school utilised digital tools to maintain the sense of community at school during lockdown was by encouraging pupils to share their out of school achievements through submitting a digital form with videos and photo attachments. These achievements were then shown and celebrated by all at virtual assemblies. The school’s annual ‘Muirtown’s Got Talent Competition’ also made the move to digital during this time as pupils again submitted their entries and then voted for their favourite act. This digital initiative was recently recognised by Google during their World Teacher’s Day announcement.
