Corporate Director: Elaine McHale
School Improvement and CPD Support
The Chesneys Centre, Regent Street
Featherstone, WF7 5EW
T 01977 721508 F 01977 721504
E
Typetalk calls welcome
13th March 2012
Dear Headteacher/Principal,
Re: Learning Platform/VLE contract extension – All Schools/Academies
As part of the 2 year extension to the original Learning Platform contract, I am pleased to inform you that ‘itslearning’ have agreed that there will be no increase in the subscription charge for 2012/13. This means the charge remains at £2.73 per pupil from 1st April 2012 and is at a much reduced cost for Wakefield schools. This cost reflects the widespread use of the platform by schools.
Along with supporting learning in schools the VLE has been developed wider to support the sharing of practice and the exchange of information securely between the LA and schools. This also means that key information for schools is located in one place. Some of the areas that your school will be aware of are: curriculum support materials, finance, HR, emergency planning and support for school improvement and data services.
The system is now being adopted by Adult and Community Education Service (ACES) to support their learning offer for adults and our communities.
The system continues to develop in functionality and provides access to a wide range of new and improved learning and communication tools to support: a dedicated parent dashboard, AfL, mentoring and ILPs. Other key features include integrated secure email for all staff and first line support and help desk.
CPD is an essential part of the developments of the VLE in schools which we continue to support and as part of the subscription schools will also have access to a range of training activities and materials at no charge. These are listed below.
Could you please return the completed renewal form to
or fax to 01977 721504 by 20th April 2012.
If you require any further information or have any questions please feel free to contact me.
Yours sincerely
Colin Chinn
Senior Officer Transformation and Business Development
Learning Platform renewal of subscription to Service – All Schools
Name of School/Academy
Contact Person Name(s) ……………………………….
……………………………….
Contact Email(s) ……………………………….
……………………………….
I confirm that the School/Academy wishes to subscribe to the Learning Platform provision for the period 1st April 2012– 31st March 2013.
I acknowledge that this will be at the cost of £2.73 per pupil.
Signed……………………………………………………………
(Headteacher/Principal)
Date………………………..
Please return the completed form to or fax to 01977 721504 by 20th April 2012.
Training and Support
All Wakefield subscribers will have access to an accreditation programme designed for both practitioners and administrators. It consists of courses run from within the school's VLE to provide intuitive multimedia resources that guide users through the different developmental stages of the learning platform.
Online Programme outline:
Bronze
· Setting up simple teaching and learning spaces
· Create engaging resources
· Set and mark homework and other assignment tasks
· Access student reaction with polls and discussions
Silver
· Help students set up ePortfolios to organise their work
· Learn how to facilitate peer and self-assessment
· Use a range of tools to enable personalised learning
· Use manual and automatic marking to suit a variety of assessment types
Gold
· Share content and information with a variety of audiences
· Use Individual Learning Plans to mentor learners and personalise their learning pathways
· Apply the tracking and reporting tools
· Set up projects for online collaboration to develop independent learning skills
Platinum
· Learn how to implement itslearning effectively across your organisation
· Establish a successful change management programme
· Learn how to improve standards, efficiency and educational outcomes
· Use itslearning to manage communication between parents, teachers, learners and others
Further details about how to gain access will follow
Themed face to face VLE Training sessions – Summer Term
Tuesday 24 April 2012, 16:00-18:00 / Getting Started – an introduction to use the VLE to support learning for new staff or staff wishing to attend a refresher course.
Wednesday 25 April 2012,
16:00-18:00 / Administrator Training – this session will focus on the administration and the management of the VLE.
Monday 11 June 2012, 16:00-18:00 2012, 16:000 / Developing Learning through the VLE at KS1- this will focus on the use of the VLE within KS1 and how it can be used to support parental engagement and support literacy and numeracy activities.
Monday 21 May 2012, 13:00-16:00 / An Introduction to the Parent Portal
Friday 25 May 2012, 13:00-16:00 / Target setting and ILP’s using the VLE
Friday 6 July 2012, 13:00-16:00 / SEAL and Mentoring through the VLE
Monday 9 July 2012,
16:00-18:00 / How to use the VLE to support AFL
To book please logon to http://cpdsupport.wakefield.yhgfl.net and simply search for ‘VLE’ to list all events.