Making pictures of the sun

In today’s art class Janice Gibson’s pupils are depicting the sun and sunshine using three different media: the software package Textease Paint, water-based paints and felt-tip pens or coloured pencils. Ms Gibson views the use of ICT as a vehicle to encourage pupils’ creativity and sense of fun.

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Teacher profile

Ms Gibson has worked as a primary teacher for 30 years and is currently teaching P6 and P7 pupils. In terms of ICT training, she has attended various in-service training (INSET) days over the years and has had a two-year secondment as an ICT staff tutor. Most of her ICT skills have been developed in her own time, through self-training, genuine interest and curiosity. At Belmont Primary, there is no formal ICT coordinator and Ms Gibson is the designated ICT administrator responsible for the equipment.

Ms Gibson views the use of ICT as motivating for the pupils and the teacher, although the time and effort needed to maintain the technology and experiment with it can be quite considerable. She tries to integrate it, where appropriate, into many curricular areas. She has used it very successfully in environmental studies and maths and is beginning to introduce it in languages.

Belmont Primary in located in the centre of the coastal town of Stranraer in Dumfries and Galloway. There are 258 pupils in the school, 54 of whom have free school lunches, and approximately 50 are recorded as having special educational needs. There are no pupils with English as a second language. In 2002, Belmont Primary was awarded the Schools Curriculum Award.

There are 36 PCs in the school, all connected in a local network, and every classroom is provided with three computers. In-school ICT training is available to staff, as well as INSET days and continuing professional development (CPD) courses.