Uniservity

Students from Tideway School (East Sussex) and Bradon Forest School (Wiltshire) have been rewarded for their exemplar use of the UniServity cLc Learning Platform with a visit to the Houses of Parliament to share their learning experiences and their vision for ‘Schools of the Future' with the Rt. Hon. Nick Gibb MP, Shadow Minister for Schools.

Nick Gibb MP discovered how Bradon Forest School is at the forefront of using ICT to support teaching and improve educational learning outcomes. In the past year, the cLc Learning Platform's toolkit of safe and secure social learning tools has opened a new world of collaborative learning opportunities for students and teachers at Bradon Forest School.  Learners have actively participated in cLc Collaborative Projects such as ‘A Million Words' and ‘Climate Cool', in addition to developing their own dynamic and innovative learning experiences. The School has developed projects with learners in Peru, Africa, the USA, Singapore, Hong Kong and Germany with plans afoot to extend the School's global learning footprint.

Dave Wright, Head of Department at Bradon Forest School, shared how the cLc Learning Platform had provided teachers with new ways to teach and empowered learners with new ways to learn, construct and collaborate, which has had a positive effect on their engagement and attainment. Students have developed new independent learning skills, with teachers providing guidance on learning rather than leading rote activities.

Nick Gibb MP also heard how the cLc Learning Platform replaced traditional ‘classroom learning' after an arson attack at Tideway School and subsequent rebuilding programme. The disruption to normal school life provided the school with the opportunity to develop an ‘online school' and to explore a more flexible curriculum, which led to increased parental engagement, and provided the school with a fascinating insight into the different benefits of more open learning provision. Jim Fanning, Assistant Head teacher at Tideway School commented "The challenge of building anywhere anytime learning into the formal curriculum has been taken up with flexible learning - some face to face teaching, some online learning, being where students feel that they learn best."

Students at both Bradon Forest School and Tideway School discussed what 21st Century learning meant to them and were keen to share their message that flexibility, choice and personalisation were key to their attainment and long term success in the workplace.

Fiona Aubrey-Smith, Head of Educational Development at UniServity added "UniServity works with Government Ministries across Asia, US and Europe and we're delighted that here in Great Britain, our Politicians listen and value the voices of young people and are prepared to take time to meet and hear the ideas and opinions of students in British schools. With young people so easily able to connect to other young people worldwide, our education system needs to keep up and empower learners to benefit from this global classroom. The staff at schools across the UK  are exploring how learning platforms can make this aspiration a reality, and we're really proud of Bradon Forest and Tideway staff and students for showing just how this can be achieved and the impact upon attainment that bringing education up-to-date has."