As with the curriculum, the DCF is a continuum and needs to be monitored on a regular basis. Therefore, every year we update the following documents as it gives myself and other stakeholders a clearer picture of what is happening in school and how we are developing;

• Action Plan - The previous school year is evaluated and new plans or continued developments will be addressed for the year ahead. This gives myself and the school new targets to be aware of and staff knowledge that DCF still needs to be one of the core principles that they teach and incorporate into their teaching and learning.

• Audit tracking - Every year the Skills Audit tracking sheet needs to be updated. Departments are asked to review their SOW for the year ahead and any changes or amendments need to be added to the audit to keep it up to date. This is helpful as you can see a true picture of the current progress of the school. In the past I have also saved versions to show how much progress has been made from one year to another. Again this can be shared with staff to express your appreciation for their hard work and support in developing the cross-curricular skills of learners. 

• Evidence Work - As this is a fluid document, we wanted to ask staff to put PUPIL evidence within the tracking sheet in order to help others in the school see examples of how they could implement the skill in their subject area. We did this by having folders for each subject and then hyperlinking pupil examples. We have also collected these through work scrutiny events as a skills team.

• Pupil Voice - Talking to pupils every year has been invaluable as it allow me to speak to them about their technical abilities and how they feel their skills are improving. I also want to check how aware they are of digital skills and also ask what they enjoy about using them. The answers to these will frame my action plan moving forward and also allow me to feedback to staff.

Here is an example of questions I have asked pupils in the past to get their viewpoints: 

• • • • • What is your understanding of DCF? 

        • What are you learning in terms of DCF and where across the school? 

        • How do you feel you are progressing with these DCF skills? 

        • Do you know how to improve and where to go for help? 

        • Other than presentations, do you use any other digital ways to display your work in other subjects e.g. Spreadsheets, animations, websites, flowcharts etc 

        • Would you like to do more digital work in other subjects across the school – if yes, can you give examples of what you would like to do?  

• Pupil skills progress - Continuing with pupil voice questionnaires and interviews with a variety of pupils to assess their understanding of the DCF and how they use it across the curriculum. Any issues that arise are then used as a target in the action plan for the year ahead and the cycle continues.

• Staff confidence survey - I will send out a new questionnaire every year to assess the needs of the staff.  This is important as we have new staff every year but also as staff become more confident in adding new skills into their lessons, they may also need further up-skilling in other areas to do this. I change some questions every year, depending on new software or tools that are available. E.g. The introduction of Google Sites and Adobe Express on HWB - these all come with their own features and tools that staff may need assistance with.

NGP Cluster

Continuing to work with my NGP cluster colleagues and meeting once a half term. As the leader of the group I send out a list of dates for the year to the leads and the Headteachers so that they can have plenty of time to plan accordingly for cover. We continue to complete, review and develop the following each year: 

• Training and digital needs

• Collective events e.g., Technocamps competitions/events, Women into STEM workshop

• Cluster mapping

• Strand yearly focus

• Digital/technology assistance from our IT technician

Skills Team

Development of the skills team has proved essential and has worked so well in improving our authority across the school in terms of importance in the curriculum. We have had a PPA session dedicated where we can all meet up once a fortnight to plan and we continue to:

• Create action plans as a skills team

• Track progress from subject areas

• Create INSET sessions and reviews

• Develop weekly circular tips

• Create TIPS Tuesday resources (for use in form time)

• Complete work reviews at least once a year as a team looking for all 3 of the major skills

• Being a sounding board for each other to bounce ideas off

• Developing reviews for Governors and the leadership team

• Improving school policies

• Organising National Testing sessions

• Communicating training back to each other when required

Parents/Carers

It is also important to stay in contact with Parents/Carers about online safety and digital wellbeing. In the past we have held parents evenings in the hall on all 3 skills, where I explain the importance of online safety. This year,  we  asked the parents/carers to complete an online questionnaire about online safety and their children. We have realised that whilst we cover a lot of this in school and also put information on our website that parents/carers were not sure what their child knew about online safety or what we as school were teaching them. This is so important as we can often protect learners in school but often communities need support from schools to assist with this at home. This therefore has now been added to my action plan for next year in order to increase parents awareness and hopefully improve the safety of our learners. 

Governors

We have an allocated online safety Governor who works closely with myself on school policies and any online safety related issues. In future I will be delivering yearly updates to him about the development of the DCF across the school along with other Governors. We feel this is really important to ensure that stakeholders who has an investment in the school are aware of how the curriculum is being taught and developed for the sake of the learners futures.

CPD opportunities for staff

Throughout the year I will often send out any CPD or training opportunities to staff as and when I receive them, this may benefit a staff's training needs.

Any new employees will also have a session with the skills team on the school expectations, where to find resources and how to contact us for support.

None of this can be done in the school effectively without the following:

• Continued support from Leadership team and staff.  Without their support, staff will not see the importance in the skills being taught, so they will become an after thought rather than being embedded for better quality teaching. 

• Praise areas of improvement and development to staff and pupils - We make a point of demonstrating excellent pupil and staff resources in INSET sessions, to try and praise the excellent effort and work being done across the school. This also helps other staff members by knowing they could talk to other colleagues for help not just the DCF co-coordinator as the examples show good practice. 

• Assessing pupil skill progress - Maintaining and improving the quality of the skills each year is important and helps to improve professional development opportunities and in turn learner outcomes.