ICT Development

We have a responsibility to ensure that pupils gain a level of ICT knowledge that will allow them to integrate comfortably into a modern working environment and, more than this, to see the creative potential of technology generally in their lives ahead. This means that the school has to keep abreast with, and incorporate the advances in, technology across all subjects. And that, inevitably, comes at a cost.

We recently held an evening seminar to showcase Tonbridge's technology in the context of the global IT revolution. Speakers included Dr Hermann Hauser, pioneering entrepreneur and member of the Government's Council for Science & Technology and Mike Frayne, an IT venture capitalist; both spoke about future developments in IT and stressed the importance of preparing pupils for a world of work where change is continuous. Ian Lucas, Director of ICT Services and two pupils, Matt Dickins and Alex Lomax then gave the school's perspective.

From left to right: Hermann Hauser, Matt Dickens, Mike Frayne, Alex Lomax

We are currently looking at a wide modernisation programme with the aim of putting the school at the leading edge.

For the boys

We believe that it is important that the ICT experience for boys in school should be the very best we can possibly achieve. They should view the computers and the network as creative tools to be harnessed rather than kicked against because of their limitations. We want to move on from the current 'thin client' provision to a stage where every boy will have his own laptop connected to the network, with the same interface wherever they are in school. Wireless access will allow them to work in any part of the school grounds and we want to ensure that connection speed and memory capacity are never constraints in what they want to do.

November 2007: about 150 boys now have laptops connected to the network, and we have three wireless access points. Internet and connection speed are good, but we are working to make them better.

For staff

ICT must be set up to help staff shoulder the burden rather than adding to it. We need to expand the use of computers in the classroom so that teachers can do things in new ways, bringing more excitement into the learning process. And, in a school with such a large geographical spread, ICT can provide many ways of dramatically improving communications.

November 2007: a new email system has significantly improved the ease of communication both in and out of school. The Sharepoint intranet is increasingly used to make educational resources easily available. Classroom use of ICT is increasing, and the appointment of the Director of Teaching and Learning will ensure this remains a focus.

For parents

Not so long ago, parents waved goodbye to their sons at the start of term, after which they were out of sight, if not necessarily out of mind. Now parents very much want to be a part of their son's life at school. Improved ICT will provide online channels through to the intranet so that parents can view school reports, exam results and information about the daily running of the school. There could also be live broadcasts of concerts, plays and matches with access over the web.

November 2007: most reports are now emailed to parents, but the development of a parents' portal is in the planning stage. Live webcasts are now a feature, the first being the Leavers' Concerto concert at the end of the Summer Term, followed by the Skinners' Day prize giving.

For the school as a whole

With a modern network in place, the possibilities are only limited by our creativity! We want to increase the number of display screens round the school to act as electronic noticeboards; touch screen kiosks will allow instant access in all sorts of out-of-the-way places such as on the sports field; high resolution CCTV cameras will be connected directly into the network; via the new media centre we will be able to set up our own internal broadcasting network with results visible on all computer screens.

November 2007: an experimental wireless-enabled computer kiosk in the Common Room, designed by one of the boys as part of a DT project, is now helping staff access information more quickly, and more may be rolled out around the school. The new high resolution CCTV cameras will first be installed in the Tonbridge School Centre for Sports and Media, and will be switched on next term.

Progress

David Dixon, Head of Design and Technology with pupils

Thanks to a very generous donation from a friend of the school, we have spent the summer working with network specialists, Cisco, to install a powerful new network - the platform on which all further developments in ICT depend.

So, we have taken a big step in the right direction. But realising the full potential of ICT use at Tonbridge is going to need more than the network itself. Thus the ICT development programme will be an important area of Foundation fundraising for the next few years.