Technology
DIGITAL STRATEGY
Alpha staff are empowered with the tools and expertise to individualise and optimise learning for all in our fully Apple environment. The purposeful and planned integration of current technologies including 1:1 iPads from Foundation Stage, develops our students as confident and curious individuals, empowered with a love and control of their own learning.
INNOVATION
Innovation at Alpha is about so much more than simply using technology. At Alpha, innovation is about thinking in new and creative ways to solve problems. Alpha’s balanced focus on content, skills and attitudes ensures that our students develop into responsible citizens, who work collaboratively with confidence to solve problems for the greater good.
SKILLS FOR FUTURE-READINESS
The Alpha curriculum is designed with the following overarching skills at its core:
Creativity
Communication
Critical Thinking
Collaboration
Confidence
Citizenship
CODING
At Alpha, basic coding is part of the curriculum from FS2. Alpha School participates annually in worldwide coding initiative “Hour of Code” hosted by Code.org. We use Apple's new Swift Playgrounds in Primary to teach pupils how to code and create apps with the support of the very best hardware including Parrot drones and Sphero devices.
With Swift Playgrounds, our pupils can learn and implement fundamental coding concepts to control these environment devices to startup, shutdown, movement capabilities, custom animations and more. This not only gives our pupils the chance to learn how to put together more complex coding commands but allows each pupil to define completely unique behaviours for their programmable devices.
To learn more logon to https://www.apple.com/ae/swift/playgrounds.
TECHNOLOGY ENHANCED PARENT PARTNERSHIPS
At Alpha, parents are partners and communication is key. State-of-the-art digital platforms avail our parents to comprehensive and customized information about every aspect of school life and provide a deep understanding of their children’s learning.
iSams Parent Portal allows our parents immediate mobile access to school information and alerts.
Multi-media digital monthly Principal newsletters are a celebration of whole school achievement. Weekly year group newsletters likewise, share updates on teaching and learning, homework and celebrations at a class level.
Home-school workflow tools provide a window into their child’s learning real time. Through the use of Seesaw and Class Dojo, parents receive alerts to view their child’s work and peer and teacher feedback. This empowers our parents with the confidence to support and extend the learning at home in mother-tongue.