KINCORTH Academy stands on land which once belonged to the Abbey of Arbroath. A proud description of its history is one of the first pages on offer when you download the school's own website (http://www.rsc.co.uk/kincorth/). The website also has a history.
It's been available on the Internet for three years, making it one of the earliest Scottish school web sites. In almost pre-Cyber days for schools, pupils were invited to an open day at Robert Gordon's University. They learned how to create web pages and the site's been on-line ever since.
Rob Grant, principal teacher of computing, says: ''Before the open day we decided on suitable content and each pupil was given the task of creating text for a page. ''We scanned in some images and then the pages were converted into HTML at Robert Gordon's. Back at the school we uploaded them to our Internet Service Provider. The ideas came from the pupils and were designed to give information about the school.''
Those pages can be found at SCET's index of Scottish school sites (http://www.scet.com/WebSchools/index.html) and many other school pages can be located through the search facility at the Superhighways Task Force site (http://www.stf.scet.com). Hundreds of schools now have their own web presence. Many, such as Kincorth Academy, started with simple information about the school. The aim is often to provide information for parents and to encourage pupils.
School websites enable pupils to publish on-line in a way that would be costly and difficult in any other medium.
St Paul's Primary School in East Calder has the usual history and aims at its site, but its purpose is to feature pupils' work. (http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/st.pauls). Kincorth Academy also supports the school curriculum, provides information for parents and enables pupils to publish on the web. Its site also points them in the right direction for research.
In the launch pad area (http://www.rsc.co.uk/kincorth/launchp.html) links have been provided for a range of subjects. For teachers and students beginning to use the Internet this is a good place to start. There are links to museums, education sites and other sites of interest such as the Physics Lovers' Paradise.
The launch pad also provides a significant number of relevant links for computer studies and access to sites from which graphics for school web pages can be obtained. The pages are clearly laid out and very easy to navigate.
Such curriculum links could also provide a good starting point for parents anxious to use the Internet at home to support learning and in fact, KidZ Zone, (http://www.rsc.co.uk/kincorth/Zidzon.html) has a wide range of links to websites chosen for their relevance to school subjects and their appeal to young people.
The St Paul's site also has links which could help with homework or would provide places for parents and children to explore together. however, sites which are a series of links - helpful as they might be - soon get by-passed and both schools have recognised the need to provide content as well as to be a directory to other resources.
Computers @ Kincorth is an on-line version of a newsletter for parents and it can be read at the school site. It explains computing terminology and has its own help-desk and hints for those buying computers. Produced once a term, a new issue should be available shortly. There's a Parents Guide to Computers at http://www.rsc.co.uk/kincorth/parents/cac1.html
St. Paul's E-news is a venture for the primary seven class in creating an on-line newsletter for parents. The pupils themselves are the journalists and art designers. Sean Kelly reports on #1233 raised for Capability Scotland while Lisa Young explains what happened on a visit to the Museum of Childhood.
School websites give an insight into the curriculum and Kincorth and st Paul's have tried to make the view as interesting and informative as possible.
While the numbers of parents accessing such websites may still be small, the sites do provide a way in which pupils can get involved in communication between the school and the home as well as with other schools.
Kincorth provides a 5-14 Information Technology area which includes details about the relevant levels and ways of addressing them. Although much of this area - including the descriptions - is addressed to pupils, the language level is demanding and pupils using the Level A and B material are likely to need support.
There are worksheets for pupils at all levels which will be helpful to those who have Internet access at home.
Currently the art pages display designs by pupils for a series of stamps, some detail British birds or flora or even fashion. There's a lot of scope for such pages displaying pupil ideas and designs about Cool Caledonia.
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