Shireland Collegiate Academy is a large inner city secondary school in Smethwick, Sandwell in the West Midlands which serves a very rich community culturally. Over the past few years the Academy has gained a reputation for effective use of Technology to improve standards, innovative curriculum design and embedding new approaches to learning with the use of Office 365 and Flipped Learning. The Academy has been judged as Outstanding by Ofsted in 2006, 2010 and 2013.

Significant curriculum innovations have played a large part in the Academy’s success. The Academy offers an integrated, competency assessed (without levels structure), thematic curriculum at KS3 and a weekly extended period of time (focus days) to students in KS4 and KS5. This has provided increased enriched activities to students as well as a platform for excellent controlled assessment delivery.

The Academy is a Teaching School (one of only three in deprived areas), designated one of the first five National Research Schools last year and was the National Pupil Premium winner for the West Midlands in 2015. The Academy is also running a large scale research project with the Education Endowment Fund and 24 local primary schools, and has written 18 technology enabled educational toolkits for the Examination Board, OCR which are free for schools to access and use.

Over the last fifteen years they have harnessed technology for learning and supporting school processes which enables their high levels of progress. Two years ago they went one-to one with devices, which means every child has their own device across all year groups. Consequently, they have around 800 Surface 3 devices and all the teachers have the Surface Pro 4 so that they can continue to modernise their classroom approach. The online platform, the Learning Gateway, is the driving force of their academy community and it provides access to class on-line areas and teacher resources designed to support and enhance learning for their young people.

As every pupil has their own device, technology is involved in every lesson. Furthermore in the last few years the quality of classroom delivery has changed dramatically through the use of a Flipped Learning approach integrated with Microsoft technologies, where work at home comes before a lesson via Office365 and student online responses result in more targeted support and work in class. Teaching has been judged as Outstanding in the last two Ofsted inspections and more than two thirds of the teachers in the Academy are currently judged as Outstanding.

However, Shireland also use technology in other ways, like their immersive classroom. This is a 60ft screen that goes across three walls to create one image. This allows the students to have a completely immersive experience as the smell technology included in the room allows them to feel that they are within the environment displayed. They have also introduced Minecraft into the classroom and the students love it. The work that Shireland does with technology offers so many opportunities for their students to try new things and broaden their horizons.

Shireland believes Microsoft helps to prepare the students for the next stage of their journey. Whether their students go onto apprenticeships, or maybe university, they can prepare them by using the same software that they will find in the workplace, giving them a head start through their immersive and daily use of technology.

Microsoft Training Academy

As one of the Microsoft Training Academies in the UK, Shireland Collegiate Academy host Microsoft Showcase events where their leading innovative educators are able to share their experiences of using Microsoft in the classroom through hands on demos. You can join the free Microsoft in the Classroom events hosted by Microsoft Showcase School Shireland Collegiate Academy, to explore how teaching and learning can be transformed through technology and a 21st Century Curriculum.

They offer a free and delightful day that will show you why you should LOVE Windows 10 and Office 365 and inspire you with ways to use Microsoft technologies to assist with engagement and attainment, and provide a hands-on environment in which to explore and evaluate technologies.

Sign up for their next event here on 05/12/17.

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