Mrs F van Heerden

Calling all early birds! The day is dawning and the children are lining up.

Early birds Anthony Avice du Buisson and Megan Mowatt wake up all the computers from their respite. Soon other children arrive and the room becomes a hive of activity, some playing games others researching. 

During breaks no games may be played. However, pupils who need to research, work on projects or catch up missed lessons may do so during one of the two breaks these activities continue after school.

The programme ’Synchron Eyes’ which was loaded last year, has made life less frustrating for many pupils, as internet sites load slowly when everyone is trying to log on. How, the teacher simply sends the sites to the pupils from her computer and in less than 2 minutes all 30 computers are on the same page or site. Multiple sites can be received and simply minimised for later use.

The children feel very proud, yet shy when their work is viewed by all as examples of excellent work in progress, except for the Foundation Phase children who just love it! They become the shyer the older they get.

The children hate it when the computers are frozen and when the message ‘EYES TO THE FRONT’ appears on every computer. They don’t want to be interrupted, who does? The next part of the instruction needs to be done and a frozen computer helps in getting their attention. Next the pupils have to follow the lesson by watching their screen while the teacher demonstrates from her PC. The Grade 1 to 4 Pupils, however, prefer to sit on the carpet and observe on the main TV monitor.

Mrs Heath teaches the pre-primary computer classes. In the past she was on her own so she could not take a whole class at a time. Now assisted by the class teacher and a teacher aid, computer lessons move a lot faster. Mrs Heath’s patience and ready smile produce smiles all around.

The upgraded K-Net 6to 9 has improved many pupils’ keyboard skills. Grade 1 to 7 pupils benefit the most from this programme.

Sweets remain a great motivation for working in the younger classes. A lesson is divided into sections.  After each section is demonstrated the pupils go back to their computers and work. The first 5 to finish come and sit down on the carpet. Competition is intense! Those who finish quickly are sometimes asked to be teachers. There is also competition to be ‘teachers’. There is also competition to be teachers.’ Teachers’ whose ‘pupils’ finish in the first fifteen, after the next section, all get an extra sweet.

The older children also sometimes ask to play this game and enjoy it just as much.

The Grade 2’s loved designing a ‘Hop Scotch’ game and a ‘Spider’ party” in PowerPoint. The grade 3’s designed their first book cover. Drawing the paschal candle during Easter proved to be very challenging and very popular,

as many wanted to print it.

The grade 4’s researched for the first time on the internet to make a PowerPoint presentation on fish. The grade 5’s had to learn how to edit and re-edit for PowerPoint presentations, as simply copying and pasting was outlawed.

Last year the Grade 6’s wrote the Knowledge Network level 2 exam. The required pass mark was 70%. 95% of the pupils received certificates for this level.

The enthusiasm and willingness of pupils to teach each other is a credit to them and their families. They help to make Priory a family school.

We have also continued our programme of maximising the pupils access to technology as we share the lab with the Grade 12’s who have been timetabled into the Junior Computer Room, with Mrs Greeff and Dr Vogts as their teachers.

 The computer lab is always full of busy bees.