ICT at Mellieha Primary School

Information Technology has now become part and parcel of our everyday life and at teaching level, ICT is now an accepted and established component of the school curriculum.

This is also true at Marija Bambina Mellieha Primary School, where every effort is being made so that activities connected with ICT are intensified and the children attending the school are made aware of and aided to familiarise themselves with ICT equipment.

Over the years, Mellieha Primary School has long invested in ICT equipment and is still doing so. During the second term, the school has been taking part in the Whole School Project as part of the ICT in Practice Support Initiative launched by the ICT Learning Centre.

Participating in this project has proved to be of immense value to the children, to the teachers and to the school. The school's project theme was 'Our Environment - Yesterday and Today'. All the classes approached the theme with enthusiasm and it was wonderful to watch the children's whole-hearted involvement in all that was being done.

Of particular value was the setting up of a resource room equipped with ICT equipment. The aim was to designate a particular area in the school creating of the right atmosphere and with a concentration of equipment readily and easily available for everyone's use. The use of ICT equipment was the order of the day and even kindergarten children enjoyed handling equipment, such as the smartboard.

Through the use of Web cams, video conferencing was organised with Lija Primary and St Joseph School. The children of St Joseph and Mellieha also worked on the project "Trees and Recycling", where children were trained and encouraged to communicate with each other using e-mail. It was a great satisfaction for the staff to watch the children enjoying themselves while using such modern equipment.

An activity week was organised in which parents were invited to visit the school and observe their children during an art, PSD, drama or ICT lesson. All this work culminated in an exhibition held at the school conference room. The opening of the exhibition was made to coincide with Prize Day.

Further plans are being made for the future to ensure that the best possible opportunities are offered to the pupils to be able to face the appealing, fascinating and at the same time ever changing challenge of ICT.