Ed Balls, Shadow Chancellor and MP for Outwood and Morley, visited Morley Newlands Primary School on 6th January 2012 to see for himself how a paperless online communication system, designed specifically for primary schools is improving links between parents and teachers.

Scholabo was founded in December 2010 by Brent, a parent of two primary school aged children, when he set out to provide an innovative solution for school to parent communication after finding it difficult to keep up to date with events and scheduled arrangements, which were primarily communicated via letters placed in his son’s school bag. 

The best practice of a leading Essex independent school was showcased on Friday at the world’s largest educational technology exhibition, the BETT Show.

Assistant Headteacher at Felsted School, near Great Dunmow, Dr Nick Dennis, gave a talk about how his school use iPads with pupils to boost learning, social and pastoral practices. His speech took place on the stand of Essex based LapSafe® Products, an education specialist in managing mobile ICT, and gave teachers and education professionals the chance to find out how the popular Apple tablet can be utilised across a range of academic subjects.

Felsted School, an independent boarding and day school for children aged four to 18 years of age, is an Apple Regional Training Centre, and offers free advice and workshops to any school using Apple tools to support teaching and learning. Visitors attending the iPad talk discovered how Dr Dennis and his pupils use tablet computers both inside and outside of the classroom, taking them on school trips to use GPS and create video blogs of their experiences. Dr Dennis explained how the iPads provide students with a range of academic staples, such as electronic dictionaries and calculators, and assume an important pastoral role by placing student information, such as commendations and medical details, at staff’s fingertips.