Haberdashers' Aske's Crayford Academy has a technology specialist status and a shared Federation ICT specialism.
The Technology Specialism will be at the very heart of the Haberdashers' Aske's Crayford Academy experience. Its influence will reach into every corner of the whole school, through all phases and into all subject areas, bringing to life the teaching and learning experiences for each student.
Technology will play the key role in forging and maintaining the highway for the all through, seamless learning environment.
Technology will be woven into the Academy curriculum, supporting the existing topics and themes delivered at the primary phase. Specialist technology teaching will start from year 1 with students learning about the design and the technology around them, from the clothes they wear, the devices they play with, the environment they live in to the food they eat.
Technology will continue to play a key role in supporting the all-through academy curriculum as our students develop in the secondary phase, heading for their GCSE and vocational studies.
The Technology Specialism is perfectly placed to prepare our students for further and higher education and employment particularly in all of the technology associated careers such as Engineering, manufacturing, catering, product design, construction and the textiles and fashion industries. With GCE A levels and advanced vocational studies taught at the very highest level as a member of the Bexley consortium.
The Technology department will be equipped with the latest design and manufacturing facilities. Available to all phases, the students of Crayford Academy will quickly become confident and skilled technologists. The students will be designing and making with intuitive software, high quality materials and industry standard equipment and machinery. The learning spaces will host all that is commensurate with delivering innovative, creative, exciting and cutting-edge Technology learning experiences.
The Technology learning will be further enhanced by educational visits to observe and experience Design, technology and engineering where and when it happens, field trips to local sites of interest to inspire design work and access to in-house, local and national Technology competitions and scholarship programmes.
HACA students will be confident, experienced and clear communicators in all situations, with students enjoying presenting their work from a very early stage. This is not only an important component in the field of design and technology but for most subject areas and is a key life skill for success.
The Technology specialism leads with a varied and inclusive enrichment programme running throughout the week, broadening the view of the subject, responding to student feedback and adding detail and depth whenever possible.
The Technology Specialism will reach out to local business and industry, developing links which will see Crayford Academy students broadening their vision, raising their aspirations and taking significant steps towards securing their futures in the ever changing and challenging world. The specialism will also be developing close links with the community that it is now a significant part of. Offering its facilities and presenting opportunities with a desire to build lasting and positive relationships with all groups and individuals that make up the local and broader communities.
As a Specialist ICT Federation of Academies our aims are clear. We are committed to embracing all technology throughout our whole federation, enabling us to enhance both teaching and learning opportunities within the Federation and in the wider community within which we work. The ICT agenda has impacted on the quality of learning and teaching throughout the school. This has resulted in: a whole schools approach to using ICT as a tool for enabling interactive lessons, an improvement in student engagement and motivation, GCSE results continuing to improve(not just in ICT), greater use being made of a visual stimulus, sharing good practice, improvement in assessment and data analysis to inform teachers, students and parents.
Each learning area houses a fully networked room with a class set of Work stations, a colour, black and white printer and a flatbed scanner. Pupils have access to a wide range of software, including graphics packages such as Adobe Photoshop, and a range of industry standard Macromedia products such as Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks and Freehand. In addition to this, the Academy uses Microsoft Windows and each pupil has regular access to a full suite of Microsoft Office 2007 packages. The ICT system is fast and powerful enough to stream multimedia supported by a broadband Internet connection. These excellent ICT facilities are maintained by a Federation Network Manager and 10 Network Technicians.
We work with the expectation that all our students will complete a GCSE in ICT, ensuring our leavers go on with their futures feeling confident and empowered users of ICT. Our students in KS3 follow a curriculum delivered in 100 minute discreet ICT lessons developing onto a varied and exciting KS4 curriculum, with Hatcham and Knights, following a similar and complementary set of qualifications both enjoying the DIDA suite, preparing our students for today’s digital world. Following on with 6 further qualifications now offered within the Federation 6th form including the industry standard qualifications such as Microsoft office qualification, Cisco and Oracle.
We extend the curriculum offer in ICT, with strong links to other subjects, such as Music, PE and Technology, making the application and use of ICT paramount to allow for interactive classrooms, on-line access and remote access to all curriculum and teaching materials 24 hours a day. The ICT department puts Information Technology at the heart of all teaching and learning with each school having an ICT champions committee with every department represented.