The Curriculum

As of the 1st September 1997 St Margaret’s has been operating as a Technology College. This year the school will enter its twelth year with this designation.

What is a Technology College?

A school granted Technology College Status undertakes to promote a curriculum that is scientific, technical and vocational. The school continues to deliver the full National Curriculum, however courses of study are enhanced by the development of the practical, technological, scientific, mathematical and communication skills needed by industry and commerce in the 21st Century.

In order to be granted this status, the school raised £116,000 in sponsorship, including generous contributions from the Governors and parents. The DFES added to that, a further capital sum. Additional funding over this time has amounted to well over £1,300,000 having been received.

How is this money being spent?

The school has been networked for computers and approximately 280 computers are now in regular use. Some of these have been placed in the Resources Centre, others in subject areas such as Design and Technology, Music, Mathematics, Science, Languages and Art. The Design and Technology department has received over £270,000 worth of Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacture machinery and general equipment. The Science department, whose facilities have been updated, also received new equipment, some for use with the computers they have acquired. The school has upgraded the school computer network system, purchased numerous multi-media projectors for classroom use, established both an ICT room and an internet lounge in the Sixth Form Centre and students have fast access to the internet. The school also has its own website (www.stmargaretshigh.com). Funding from the initiative has contributed to all of these.

How will the students benefit?

Firstly, the students are now able to produce work using computer technology in many lessons. In addition they are able to use the computers in the Resources Centre and elsewhere around the school to complete coursework, to develop new skills and to experience new software and hardware. The school is developing its VLE facility (Virtual Learning Environment) which will soon benefit all of our students, whereby they will be able to access resources both in school and from home. Some of the funding received has been spent on additional IT staff so that more help is available to the students, both in the classroom and outside. In Design and Technology students will have experience of using modern Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacture equipment providing an experience similar to that found in industry today. In Music they are able to compose using computers; in Art, to produce work using the latest software packages. There is a computer and multimedia projector in each Mathematics classroom, and we have been able to acquire items such as graphical calculators for use in those lessons. Digital cameras are now used in a wide variety of subjects, and over thirty multi-media projectors have been purchased and are used in subjects across the curriculum, for example, in all of the language classrooms. The aim is that technology, in its widest sense, is a fully integrated part of the whole curriculum and as a consequence, our students will be better prepared for the technological world of work they will encounter when they leave school. It is a very exciting aspect of the school’s development and an initiative that has enormous benefits for students and staff alike, helping to raise levels of attainment and achievement.

A Second Specialism – Languages

In November 2007, the school was awarded High Performing Specialist School (HPSS) status - a prestigious designation based on our performance in our OFSTED inspection of that year. As a result the school was able to apply for a second specialism - an opportunity available only to a select number of schools. This we did and were successful. Thus from April 2008, the school added a second specialism in Languages to its designation.

Learning languages teaches us how people live in other cultures and countries and gives insights into our own multicultural society. As new technology brings people closer together across the globe, studying languages becomes ever more important in preparing our students for living and working in the 21st century. This designation builds upon the strengths of an already successful department and support the place of languages in the curriculum. It provides the springboard for many activities and opportunities, both for our own students and for those in our partner institutions as well as for members of the wider community. Details of these opportunities appear in places such as on the school website and in the Friends magazine, and in newsletters.