St John's
Dapto
Dapto
A Catholic Parish Primary School
St John’s provides quality and relevant learning environments for all students through the integration of technology across all Key Learning Areas. Students’ ability to find, evaluate and create information is enhanced through connecting with the world outside the classroom. Through portable technology, mobile learning is possible anywhere and everywhere, expanding the classroom beyond the bricks and mortar of the school buildings.
St John’s has a strong view on the importance of technology in the role of the education of its students. We see this as one of a number of key ingredients that support students in the learning process. The provision of a technologically rich environment allows teachers to access a greater variety of tools to enhance their teaching and improve learning outcomes. It supports our educational aim of developing innovative and engaging teaching strategies to facilitate authentic learning for our students.
At St John’s students in Kindergarten to Year 3 utilise school devices while students in Year 4 to Year 6 bring their own personal iPad to school each day.
All students involved in the 1:1 iPad Program will participate in the ‘Digital Citizenship Program’. The program focuses on students being:
The Student Responsible Use of Technology Agreement covers the responsibilities of users and the school in using technology respectfully, responsibly and safely. Students and their parents/carers are asked to sign this agreement at the commencement of each school year.
St John’s provides weekly Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) lessons through a specialised STEM teacher. The teaching of STEM is also integrated into other Key Learning Areas, especially Mathematics and Science and Technology .
The students from Kindergarten to Year 6 are given many STEM opportunities to work with an extensive range of robotics on offer such as Sphero, mBots and Mindstorms.
The robotics experiences are an excellent tool for building and sustaining STEM interests as students are continually challenged to solve real-world problems that require critical thinking, collaboration, and innovation using tools that are relevant to them.
The students are introduced to coding apps to help support programming, complete hands-on activities, and share creations within the school community. They learn how to navigate a maze, create a dance party, stack towers, navigate Bluetooth, change lighting, sensors and colours on the robots and compete in robotic sumo wrestling competitions.
Digital citizenship is a priority at St John's, with all students participating in learning experiences that focus on being responsible and ethical users of technology.
Teachers use a range of resources developed by the Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong, the Office of the eSafety Commissioner and other online safety organisations, to assist in the ongoing education of our students in being safe and responsible digital citizens.
The CEDoW Digital Citizenship Program Site also provides a program of resources for our students on digital citizenship.
Oliver is our school’s Library Management System. It is fully web-based, so the whole school community can access library resources including eBooks and Audiobooks. Simple, clear search options like dynamic picture searches help young students find books and other resources that appeal to them. They can also choose from a huge selection of background graphics and avatars to personalise their library experience.
Oliver means students and staff can also manage their loans and reservations — anywhere, anytime.