Department of Technology in Education - Primary Sector - Admin

Parent Visits

Refer also to

Rationale

Promote ICT awareness among parents.
Give parents the opportunity to experience some of the software used in state primary schools.
Promote the services of the ICT Learning Centre.

Sessions will usually start at 09:00 and end at 12:00, and will include a brief welcoming address by the EO Primary and the Director of the DoTiE.
The Peripatetic Teacher (PT) will give an overview of the use of ICT in the Primary schools.
After the break, parents will have a hands-on session using software available in the classroom. Sessions in Term 3 will cover software that children will be using the following scholastic year.
Details of the content may vary as negotiated between the PT and the particular school management team.

Head teachers who would like to organise a session are to contact their PT. The PT will communicate pre-set dates for sessions available throughout the scholastic year. There will be no sessions available during half days.
Head teachers/administrators can book for a session through their respective Support Teacher (ST) at the ICT Learning Centre at least three weeks in advance of any suggested date. They should also inform their school PT.
Please refer to the Schedule of available dates for this scholastic year and for your Support Teacher’s contact information.

All parents who have children in Years 1 to 6 are welcome.
It is recommended that schools should organise sessions for separate year groups so that sessions concentrate on a narrow selection of software and can produce more effective results.
Participation is limited to a maximum of 20 persons, dictated by our Lab capacity. This does not include the school's administrative representative.
If more than 20 persons show interest in attending, schools are urged to
a. Either make a list on a first-come-first-served basis.

b. Or ask for a further session for that same year group. However this can only be set for the following term and may be subject to lab availability.
If the interested number of parents per year group is less than 14, the session will have to be cancelled. In very small schools, head teachers may opt to combine year groups (ex. Year 1 and Year 2), as long as the total number does not exceed 20.
Small schools may also opt to combine their groups. Please consult your PT to see whether this is possible. The rule for maximum number of participants, however, still applies.
A member of the school senior management team (Head or assistant head) should always accompany the group.

Parents are NOT to come to the Centre with their personal transport, as this has caused problems in the past, including:
a. Parents had problems with parking.

b. Parents arrived at different times, and sometimes sessions took long to start, as the exact number of participants was not known.

c. Parents booked for the sessions but did not turn up. There were cases in the past where only a handful of parents attended. The Centre Labs are always in demand, and we must ensure that they are used as effectively as possible.
It is therefore recommended that:

a. The school (through the School Council) should organise a common means of transport;

b. The ICTLC (through the PT) is informed of the number of participants (max. 20). Bookings for less than 14 participants will not be accepted.
Enquiries at the ICTLC should always go through the particular ST in charge.
All sessions start at 09:00 sharp. Please ensure that participants are seated at least 10 minutes before the start of the sessions.