Flint’s Cornist Park Primary named as one of Wales’ 13 ‘Digital Pioneer’ schools

Education Minister, Huw Lewis has today named 13 schools that will lead work to place digital skills at the heart of the Welsh curriculum.

Flint’s Cornists Park primary school is one of 13 selected to be ‘Digital Pioneers’ – the 13 drawn from across the whole of Wales include secondary, special, English and Welsh medium schools.

Last month the Minister announced that he wanted to develop a new framework to help schools make digital competency a central part of teaching and learning so it becomes a cross-curriculum responsibility in the same way as literacy and numeracy.

The Minister also said he would select a small group of schools already leading the way on digital competence to help design and deliver the new Digital Competence Framework.

The 13 schools now selected to be Digital Pioneers have been drawn from across Wales and include secondary, special, English and Welsh medium schools.

The Minister said:

“Our radical new approach will ensure that learners have the opportunity to become confident and creative in their use of digital technologies and will enable them to develop the skills our economy needs to thrive.

“It will also have an impact on the fundamental skills of teaching and will require a fresh perspective from the teaching profession.

“I now want the Digital Pioneer schools to work in partnership with the Welsh Government, regional education consortia, higher education, industry, parents and learners to create a new curriculum –one that will equip learners with the skills they need to succeed and reach their full potential in an increasingly digital world.

“With this work we are building on the momentum and desire that exists in Wales to create a world-class education system. Our new framework will place Welsh learners at a distinct advantage and help to continue our work of driving up standards across our education system.”

The Digital Competence Framework will come into force from September 2016.
Work to develop it will begin in the autumn term and will be overseen by an independent reference group made up of business and educational leaders including representatives from the National Digital Learning Council and leading digital employers such as Microsoft.

The Welsh Government’s decision to develop a Digital Competence Framework builds on the recommendations of the independent review of ICT and Professor Graham Donaldson’s review of Curriculum and Assessment arrangements in Wales. Last month the Education Minster accepted all the recommendations of Professor Donaldson’s report.