As we reach the end of another academic year, it’s a great time to reflect on what we have achieved and what lies ahead. Appreciating that the digital world seems to be changing at an ever increasing rate, Alice Smith School created the role of “Head of Educational Technology and Digital Wellbeing”. Two positions were created last year, one focused on the secondary age group and one on primary (recognising the different needs and exposure to technology that children have at different ages).
The school also identified that it’s not just our students who need support in this rapidly changing world. Our whole community can benefit from the support of specialists who are focused on keeping up to date with the latest digital trends and research and sharing this knowledge with parents and staff. It is for this reason that lots of parent workshops have been provided this year, both in-person/onsite and through monthly webinars (the “Digital Drop-in”).
Many parents have attended sessions and workshops throughout this year. Not only do these events allow for information sharing from the school, but also for parents to talk, link up and share their experiences and advice. Onsite sessions are advertised as and when they occur and the “Digital Drop-in” has become a monthly fixture; occurring on the last Tuesday of each month from 5:30 - 6:00pm during term time (accessed through Google Meet).
The workshop topics are chosen by both the school (when we see something that is trending or think there is a theme which needs particular attention) and by our parent community. Three of the workshops already delivered, and the upcoming Digital Drop-in on June 30th were direct requests from parents (using the “Pulse” survey to feed back at the end of sessions).
Here is a list of the topics covered, and workshops which were supported by the Head of Educational Technology and Digital Wellbeing role this year, both in the monthly Digital Drop-in webinars and through onsite parent sessions:
- An introduction to the Digital Drop-in and Digital Life at the secondary school.
- AI, Education and our school
- Online influencers
- Social Media and online gaming
- Roblox - a parental guide
- Too much online life and building healthy habits (delivered onsite and online)
- AI Companions
- The Manosphere
- Supporting your child’s digital awareness (onsite)
- Digital Learning - A positive change in approach for Year 7 (onsite)
- RSHE Parent Workshop (onsite)
- Year 6 Parent Transition Event (onsite)
The upcoming June 30th Digital Drop-in (webinar), is especially relevant to parents and carers who have children starting Year 7 in August. The title of this webinar is “Supporting children with their first phone and managing device usage.” We will look at things to consider before a phone is purchased, whether a phone is needed at all (and if so, what type of phone), setting boundaries, forming support groups, having conversations with our children, technical solutions to manage phones and more.
Conscious that we all have very busy lives and that schedules don’t always line up, we make the session materials available after each workshop. All of the presentations about digital life are uploaded to My School Portal (MSP). They can be accessed under the “Parent iHub” tab, in the “Parent Workshops” area. Recordings are accompanied by parent versions of the slide decks (which contain a lot more text than the live presentations).
As we go into the new academic year, some workshops will be re-run from last year and new ones will be added (as new items arise in the world of technology and from requests submitted by parents and carers). We encourage our community to engage as much as possible and we are keen to receive more parental requests for future workshop topics. Also, a student Digital Guidance Group has also been formed in the secondary school phase. This group is adding another voice and to help us direct the support which is provided to both parents and students.
We are very grateful to all of the parents and carers who have given their time to attend our workshops about the digital world this year and to those who have submitted ideas for content, also to the PTA for their advice and support. We look forward to providing many more workshops and support for our whole school community in the new academic year.