ICT family fun day: Compute this

Inviting in families to see what they can do with new technology boosts learning at home, says Irene Drummond of Chatham Place Nursery School, Liverpool

We were flattered when the new school inspector suggested that our nursery should share good practice and promote information and communication technology (ICT) within the Dingle, Toxteth, Granby Education Action Zone (EAZ). Modestly, we hadn't realised we were good in that area, but decided that holding an ICT Family Fun Day was an ideal opportunity to celebrate the huge input of resources made available to schools through the National Grid for Learning and the EAZ.

It was also a great way to show parents, staff and ICT co-ordinators from other schools the educational potential of the new technology and give everyone some fun hands-on experience of the activities the children do in nursery as well as others at adult level.

We cancelled the normal nursery day, made sure all children would be accompanied by an adult, arranged morning and afternoon drop-in sessions and sent invitations to parents and local schools. More than 50 adults came along, and two families enjoyed it so much they stayed all day.

The nursery's four computers were set up with a number of activities, including children's computer games and the internet - one dad was around for hours and got on the internet as often as he could.

We suggested that parents bring along addresses of anyone they'd like to e-mail or fax and we demonstrated how to use both. One child e-mailed her photo to family in Hong Kong and another wrote to his dad.

Our digital camera was a huge hit. We used it to take family photos and made them into greeting cards or printed them on to special thermal transfer paper to iron on T-shirts.

We also had wall displays of photographs and children's work showing how we use the camera in the nursery to support all six areas of learning. A Power Point presentation of the children's dance sessions and other activities stimulated discussion about the curriculum with parents and visitors.

Parents were especially impressed with our interactive whiteboard which displays a computer image and can be used as a touch screen. They also enjoyed getting hands-on with different games and other technology, including group listening centres, music keyboards, a metal detector and children's programmable toys.

We made information available on adult computer courses, and one grandfather is now interested in doing a course. Many parents enquired about where to buy the computer software and resources, particularly Starter-Up Steve, which can be programmed to move in four directions.

It was a boost when a visiting ICT co-ordinator said she got a lot from the visit and now understood what Foundation Stage children can achieve, while other visitors were surprised by the range of activities available at nursery level.

We had been worried about the cost and the prospect of printers or the computer network failing - an awful scenario - but the EAZ gave us 100 to cover the cost of paper and printer ink, and the ICT team at Liverpool Education and Lifelong Learning Service gave us invaluable support from the outset. In fact, everything went so smoothly and the day was such a success that we're now planning another ICT Family Fun Day for the summer when, hopefully, we'll be able also to go into the garden.