You’re Glow-ing example, film crew tell school

Mar 9 2009 by Alison Rennie, Paisley Daily Express

PUPILS and parents at St James’s Primary are leading the way in new technology in the classroom.

Youngsters at the Paisley school are already used to using Glow, the virtual classroom which links together every school in Scotland.

And since January 12, their mums and dads have been logging on as well in a pilot project run by Renfrewshire Council to show parents how to get involved.

Now, camera crews from Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) have visited the school to film the pupils and their parents using Glow to show other schools how it’s done.

Head teacher Sarah Guthrie explained: “Our school is quite well ahead with Glow so we were picked by Learning and Teaching Scotland to ask parents to get involved for a pilot project.

“They, like their children, have been issued with Glow passwords, which lets them log on and see what their children are doing at school and help with homework.

“Parents have been able to exchange ideas with teachers and share any concerns or queries they have. It saves a lot of paperwork and time.

“It’s been a great success, so far. The parents have got a lot from it, as well as the children.”

Glow is the Scottish Schools National Intranet and schools across Renfrewshire have been taking part in it since June last year.

The local authority was one of the first in Scotland to adopt the scheme and St James’s Primary has done a lot of work developing their own site and working with other schools across the country.

Learning and Teaching Scotland chose the school for the pilot because it had heard about the good work it was doing.

A spokesperson said: “St James’s Primary was chosen as a model of best practice because we heard they were doing some good work there.

“The school was holding a day-long workshop, so we wanted to film that to put on our website as a case study of good practice.

“We hope it will encourage parents to get involved because they can see the benefits of Glow.

“It will also help other schools see how they can get parents involved in their children’s learning.“

Sarah added: “The film was about the work being done in the school, how the parents have enjoyed it and how they’ve got involved with the project.

“It’s to highlight the success of Glow and how it can be used by pupils and parents.

“It’s important to involve parents in using Glow with their children and encourage children and their parents to work together.”