We are proud to be a

GOOGLE REFERENCE SCHOOL

"Your school is doing exemplary things with Google tools and we’re excited for you to join this select group of Reference Schools."

Google Reference School Directory What are Google Reference Schools?

Thames has been awarded this in recognition of our effective use of G Suite for Education tools throughout the school to support the quality of teaching and learning.

Our goal is for all students to have access to technology within their lessons, and for it to be used to allow students to become confident and responsible users of modern technology, promoting communication, independence, resilience, collaboration and progress.

The majority of our teaching and support staff are Level 1 Google Certified, others have Level 2 and we benefit from having a Google Certified Trainer within our Trust.

All pupils in Y3-6 have access to their own chromebook to support their learning and pupils in Year 6 take their device home with them also. Pupils in EYFS, Y1 and 2 have a class set of 30 touchscreen chromebooks which are shared across each year group.

Pupils work through a digital skills passport which identifies the skills pupils need in order to use technology effectively. These skills are taught systematically through the computing curriculum and are embedded in lessons throughout the whole curriculum.

Technology is used to supplement and enhance teaching and learning in the classroom and beyond. Google Classroom is used as a platform for presenting lesson content and resources to support learning and the student dashboard offers pupils easy access to additional resources such as software applications and wellbeing and resilience resources. Pupils all have Google accounts, allowing them to store their work in the ‘Cloud’ as opposed to on a network. This allows our pupils to login to a variety of devices, anywhere on the school site or at home and access teaching and learning resources and lesson content.

Lessons are planned to encourage opportunities for pupils to communicate their ideas, collaborate, research, present information and innovate. Teachers offer pupils feedback on their learning via Google Classroom and through voice notes This has had a positive impact on pupil motivation and independence and supports access for pupils with identified barriers to their learning.

The use of technology and Google tools in lessons supports teachers in modelling new learning, offering feedback and in providing adaptive strategies for pupils with SEND/learning barriers. Struggling pupils are offered extra help via Google Classroom in a discrete and non-invasive way, allowing all of our pupils to have a ‘voice’. The use of Google Workspace has helped to begin to nurture our pupils furthermore to become creative, independent and curious learners.

Regularly revisiting previously taught knowledge and concepts supports pupils’ retention of key ideas and knowledge. Our teachers use technology to support them in gaining valuable formative assessment information through retrieval practice and self-quizzing.

We are able to provide training opportunities for colleagues and other schools and will continue to work closely with Google in supporting the use, development and deployment of future technologies for use in supporting teaching and learning. In June 2021, we hosted a digital Roadshow at school which allowed us to showcase and share our practice with our local primary schools and partner schools.