Our vision

At Ysgol Bro Gwaun, our motto “Angori Doeth, Dyfodol Disglair”, Anchor Wisely, Bright Future; is at the heart of everything we do. It reflects our commitment to grounding learners in strong values and skills today, so they can confidently navigate and shape the world of tomorrow. Our school’s aim to foster a bilingual, innovative, and inclusive learning environment aligns seamlessly with the development of Digital Competence as a cross-curricular responsibility.

Digital competence is not just a skill set; it is a foundation for lifelong learning and responsible citizenship in a digital age. By embedding the four strands of the Digital Competence Framework; Citizenship, Interacting and Collaborating, Producing, and Data & Computational Thinking; we are anchoring our learners wisely in the present, equipping them with the tools to build a bright, informed, and empowered future. Digital competence is essential for learners if they are to be informed, capable, and have the potential to be successful in today’s society (WAG, 2018).

1. Citizenship

Identity, image and reputation; Health and well-being; Digital rights, licensing and ownership; Online behaviour and cyberbullying.

2. Interacting and collaborating

Communication; Collaboration; Storing and sharing.

3. Producing

Planning, sourcing and searching; Creating; Evaluating and improving.

4. Data and computational thinking 

Problem solving and modelling; Data and information literacy.

Digital Competence as a Cross-Curricular Responsibility

At Ysgol Bro Gwaun, Digital Competence is recognised as one of the three statutory cross-curricular responsibilities and is embedded at the core of our curriculum design. In line with our commitment to fostering a bilingual, inclusive, and innovative learning environment, we are dedicated to providing all learners with equitable opportunities to develop and refine their digital skills across all Areas of Learning and Experience (AoLEs).

We are committed to creating a safe, supportive, and aspirational learning environment where digital competence is developed through purposeful, skills-rich learning experiences that are both challenging and relevant. These experiences are designed to be authentic and transferable, equipping learners with the digital literacy and critical thinking skills necessary for success in further education, the workplace, and wider society.

Through this approach, we aim to ensure that all learners become digitally competent individuals who are confident, enterprising, creative, and capable of engaging critically and responsibly with the digital world.

At Ysgol Bro Gwaun, we acknowledge that certain subject areas provide more frequent and structured opportunities to develop learners’ digital competence. These subjects play a pivotal role in embedding the four strands of the Digital Competence Framework through regular, purposeful integration of digital tools and practices: 

·        Health and well-being

·        Technology

·        Cymraeg/Welsh

·        Art

·        Welsh Bacc

·        Music

·        Digital Technology

Whilst these subjects provide more frequent opportunities to develop digital competence, Ysgol Bro Gwaun recognises that all teachers share a collective responsibility to embed digital skills where they arise naturally within their subject areas. As such, every teacher is a teacher of digital competence.

To ensure a consistent and coherent whole-school approach, staff are expected to plan for and integrate digital competence within their teaching, where appropriate. This shared commitment reinforces the high value the school places on digital literacy and ensures that all learners receive equitable and meaningful opportunities to develop the skills necessary to thrive in a digitally connected world.

The implementation of the Digital Competence policy is based around 5 main areas: 

1.      Digital Competence within the Digital Technology curriculum 

The digital technology department take the lead in providing pupils with a solid foundation of the 4 strands of digital competence. The department provides pupils with a diverse range of tools and techniques which can enable them to create a wealth of digital products across other subject areas. As a department we recognise that there may be barriers to other departments in terms of access to hardware and software and therefore take an inclusive approach to ensure that software and skills are transferrable across a range of devices. Within the Technology rotation, we have developed a curriculum based upon the descriptor of learning "Computation is the foundation for our digital world".

2.      Digital Competence Intervention Programmes & The Digital Passport

Whilst there are no national tests available to gauge how digitally competent a pupil is; the school has developed an extensive digital resilience programme to provide targeted online safety sessions at a form group level. To evaluate our pupils Digital Resilience, we devised a survey based on statements from UK Council for Internet Safety's (UKCIS) framework “Education for a Connected World”. This report was chosen as the basis of our survey due to the aims and depth of the report and the links that could be made to the Digital Competence Framework. Furthermore, each statement, through Project Evolve has resources which directly link to the statement through all key stages.

For each statement we asked our pupils if they ‘strongly agreed’, ‘agreed’, ‘disagreed’, ‘strongly disagreed’ or ‘didn’t know’. We made it clear that responses were anonymous to ensure that we were able to get a true reflection of digital resilience in our school environment. Based on responses, targeted lessons run at a form group level, as highlighted in the school’s recent Digital Resilience Survey report. Pupils have a entry and exit survey to identify the effectiveness of the sessions ran.

Pupils will also have the opportunity to develop a digital portfolio which will enable them to showcase their digital skills throughout school and show progression in their work. Click here to find out the rationale behind creating our digital passport and how it was developed.

3.      Digital Competence throughout the curriculum 

The digital competence coordinator regularly undertakes the following tasks:

·        Meets with HoDs/Heads of AoLE to discuss digital competence within that subject area in order to provide support and guidance as appropriate, 

·        Monitors and ensure that there is consistency in departmental approaches in implementing the whole-school digital competence policy, 

·        Identifies good practice and shares with all staff, 

·        Develops resources that support digital competence in the classroom, 

·        Meets with all new staff to run a session on digital competence skills. 

This includes: 

·        a range of appropriate citizenship strategies,

·        a range of appropriate interacting and collaborating strategies,

·        a range of appropriate producing strategies,

·        a range of appropriate data and computational strategies,

Evidence to monitor and evaluate whole-school digital competence: 

·        Lesson observations, 

·        Learning walks, 

·        Book look (1x specific skills per year), 

·        L2L (1x specific skills per year) 

·        Digital Resilience Survey results/reports,

·        Digital Competence framework spreadsheet.

4.  Digital Leaders Programme

A Digital Leader is a pupil who is part of a Digital Leaders Team within a school, whose role it is to support the use and to further the development of Digital Technology in school.

The team is assembled upon application and interview, and meet regularly. Pupils are then given training and support to develop specific areas of ICT expertise. These areas of expertise can be self-determined, or may be a particular request for a specific item of hardware or software.

Once a pupil gains an area of expertise, staff may then request the use of the Digital Leader for a variety of different functions. Further, pupils make up part of a rota to ensure devices are returned and on charge during break and lunch times.

Typically, functions that may be performed by a Digital Leader could be:

•                 Ensure devices are placed on charge properly after lessons.

•                 Blog on behalf of the School, a class or a club.

•                 Test and review new ICT resources, which could be websites, software or hardware.

•                 Share their skills and expertise with other pupils, classes and teachers.

•                 Set up ICT equipment in classrooms for teachers.

•                 Lead ICT lunchtime or After School ICT Clubs.

•                 Support teachers in using ICT in the classroom.

•                 Blog as the School Journalist or Photographer.

•                 Provide first line Technical Support in school.

•                 Staff Trainers.

•                 Create how-to video help guides.

5.  Online Safety Group

The school has established an Online Safety Group which consists of the online safety lead, SLT, DSP, governor, teaching and admin staff. The new online safety policy which has been adopted by the school after being agreed by the governing body in 2021 highlights the responsibilities of all school stakeholders. The group, chaired by the online safety lead regularly remind and update those on the responsibilities of all stakeholders in line with the new policy. Online safety is also a running item on the SLT agenda to inform the senior leadership team of any updates.

As part of the group the governing body is away of the work being completed in line with the school’s online safety policy, which includes sharing incident logs. Staff training and awareness takes place during inset, teaching and learning briefings and twilight sessions to ensure that all staff have an up to date knowledge of online safety to ensure that all staff are confident, informed and consistent in dealing with online safeguarding issues affecting learners. The governing body representatives provide support and critical challenge within the group to ensure that the online safety provision is in line with the school’s policy and vision. There is evidence that key members of staff (DSP/pastoral/behaviour leads) have received more specific training beyond general awareness raising.

There is a clear alignment and consistency with other child protection/safeguarding training, with overlap between the online safety policy and safeguarding policies/audits. As a school the online safety lead has led training to the wider community and county to share best practice. 

Our support site provides all stakeholders with up-to-date information, tips and tools on how they can support their children online.