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Harbinger is a vibrant and happy community school situated in the east end of London. We value the unique contribution every child has to make and believe that children learn best when they feel secure in themselves and their learning environment. We pride ourselves on being a warm and open community, committed to nurturing each individual in our care.
Our values of learning, well-being and togetherness underpin everything we do in order that children thrive in primary school and beyond.
The impact of St Luke's values, ‘safety, responsibility, kindness, respect, enthusiasm, partnership, fairness, honesty, excellence and courage’, in a Christian context, permeates the life of the school impacting on children’s personal, spiritual and academic development. In practice, this means our children are knowledgeable and want to achieve their very best.
What is Your EdTech Journey? SL1
Rebecca Abrahams (Executive Headteacher) and Nimesha Nagahwattea (Head of School) share the background to their settings (they entered a partnership together in 2020). Their Digital Transformation journeys are also explained.
Challenges in EdTech Adoption - How can we manage the change effectively? SL2
"It is essential to see this as a whole school programme of development as opposed to something that one or two individuals are leading on!"
Rebecca Abrahams (Executive Headteacher St Luke's C of E Primary School)
How did you get your staff on board with the changes?SL3
How did you get your staff on board with the changes?SL3
"Change doesn't happen over night! Change management takes a long time and it requires patience and perseverance!"
Nimesha Nagahwattea (Head of School, Harbinger Primary School)
What are the positive benefits to staff of embracing technology across the school?
What are the positive benefits to staff of embracing technology across the school?
" You want this to be whole school. But when you are looking at whole school, people have different roles, therefore we need to be considering how we are adapting what we are doing to benefit those individuals within their roles but also deliver the whole school change that we are looking for!"
Rebecca Abrahams (Executive Headteacher)
How do you approach CPD for your staff?SL6
How do you approach CPD for your staff?SL6
"We've mapped out CPD opportunities for staff ... we have organised CPD for the whole staff... all our staff have MEC profiles, all our staff are accredited as MIEs and some of our staff have moved on further to work towards their MIEE status as well!"
Nimesha Nagahwattea (Head of School, Harbinger Primary School)
What impact has the technology had?SL16
What impact has the technology had?SL16
"One of the big things I notice is how highly motivated and engaged the children are when they are using technology in the classroom. They can be very competent, they use technology at home, but actually being able to teach them the explicit skills and refine those skills is really important."
Nimesha Nagahwattea (Head of School, Harbinger Primary School)
How do you use EdTech to Support Inclusive Practice?SL8
How do you use EdTech to Support Inclusive Practice?SL8
"We use technology as a way of providing equity for our children, from all needs - whether they have SEND needs or not! ... Giving those children back agency, so it almost becomes a strategic lever for them in their learning and gives them independence."
Jessica Dewan (Year 5 Teacher and Computing Lead)
Examples of Tech Use for Everyday Learning SL10
Examples of Tech Use for Everyday Learning SL10
"There's lots of ways I use technology to meet the needs of all of my learners. One of the things I do for a child who has recently moved from another country is, I use a translator within Powerpoint when I presenting my slides into her home language. So that as I am teaching, it is recognising my voice and translating what I am saying into text in to a different language."
Luke Shuttleworth (Y3/4 teacher at Harbinger Primary School)
How do you manage the ongoing investments required? SL11
How do you manage the ongoing investments required? SL11
"The challenge for us as leaders is how can we make sure our infrastructure keeps up with what our children and our staff ... demand of our hardware!"
Rebecca Abrahams (Executive Headteacher)
Advice to other teachers SL!@
"Not to be scared, and just throw yourself at it! Use new technology, try it out. Some things you will find more intuitive than others... I just feel a lot my confident myself than I did a couple of years ago. Don't worry. Ask colleagues!"
Luke Shuttleworth - Y3/4 teacher at Harbinger Primary School
Is using technology cheating? SL13
"In the future, the children we are teaching now are likely to be using technology when they get to secondary school, university, when they go to the workplace - so I don't think it is cheating; I think it is giving children valuable skills that they are going to need as they get older and as they hopefully have high, ambitious careers in the workplace!"
Emily Thakrar (Year 3 teacher and Assistant Head, Harbinger Primary)
How have you secured more devices to increase learner to device ratios? SL14
How have you secured more devices to increase learner to device ratios? SL14
"We had an ICT suite, but we didn't have any mobile devices in school; so we started at zero! And over time we worked with [the] local authority and Government to acquire more devices for the children; we worked in partnership with charities as well. They were able to donate devices... so over a year we were able to accumulate more devices for children.
Our vision is to be 1:1 devices across the school, but at the moment we are not there! We know its a journey and that it is something really need to invest time and money in!"
Nimesha Nagahwattea (Head of School, Harbinger Primary School)
Who are your digital leaders? SL15
"Our Digital Leaders champion anything to do with anti-bullying or technology in class! There's two Digital Leaders in every single class - they are you go to for help! "
Jessica Dewan (Year 5 Teacher and Computing Lead)
How can EdTech help support digital poverty?
How can EdTech help support digital poverty?
"Even though our school(s) might be situated in a really deprived area, we are really ambitious for the children. We want equity for the children! ... Understandimng that we really wanted to help upskill our children, so they are future ready!"
Nimesha Nagahwattea (Head of School, Harbinger Primary School)
How do you use Microsoft Tools to support everyday T&L?
How do you use Microsoft Tools to support everyday T&L?
"I chose to use forms for a bit of a retrieval practice activity, because it is a chance for the children to very quickly show me what they have already learnt and what they can remember from Year 2!"
Emily Thakrar (Year 3 teacher and Assistant Head, Harbinger Primary)
How can we assess the relative impact of technology on the effectiveness of T&L?
How can we assess the relative impact of technology on the effectiveness of T&L?
"In a couple of areas it is really clear to see ... in some ways the impact is that the children are just more willing to do their learning because using technology is exciting, so you can see that ... they are coming to their lessons excited because they know that they get to use their laptops and they know it is something they can all get involved in!"
Emily Thakrar (Year 3 teacher and Assistant Head, Harbinger Primary)
Why should all teachers embrace the integration of technology into their everyday teaching?
Why should all teachers embrace the integration of technology into their everyday teaching?
"When I started using technology, it felt like a really big, difficult thing to do because initially there are a couple of barriers around children forgetting their usernames and passwords and not being able to access certain apps! ... If we can give them those skills [independence using the technology] now we are setting them up really well for the workplace and university."
Emily Thakrar (Year 3 teacher and Assistant Head, Harbinger Primary)
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