Gaggle Net - Technology To Teach Limited

Gaggle Net (https://www.gaggle.net/)

Want to provide good email for your school? Well I highly recommend this system which I have used in two primary schools in London. The children loved sending mail and logging on to the chat room at the weekend, yes the teacher can restrict this just to the school or class. The children enjoyed chatting knowing that they were in a safe environment. If they send inappropriate messages via email they are blocked. If they use the chat system and say anything incorrectly, then the administrator gets a copy so what has been said can be discussed with the child concerned.

The free version comes with child friendly adverts but you can pay for the advert free system. I used the advert version which also proved useful as a teaching resource. Lets face it, they will encounter adverts on webmail when they get older (if they haven’t done so already) so why not teach them how to handle them.

Oh and the address they get will be @gaggle.net no more long winded email addresses which often include the schools name

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An outstanding course leader who provided good insight and practical teaching strategies, she also provided lots of cross-curricular ideas too."

Newly Qualified Teacher, Primary Academy

This course opened pathways into science that I never realised were there. One activity on the course involved fruit. We had to make a list of adjectives on what we could see, not touch or taste. This was a perfect example of how to begin an investigation in the classroom; start with the visual aspect and then move onto other senses/experiences to build on, evaluate and cement our first thoughts/findings. I have applied this approach in the classroom (reception class) while teaching about minibeasts: we started by reading a book about spiders; described the spider in the book; looked at and discussed a picture of a real spider; talked about what spiders can do and how they do it; went outside to try and capture a spider discussing where they might live; finally caught one and the children intuitively went to find food and made a habitat for it in the container; took the spider into the classroom and are now studying his behaviour and appearance first-hand. This in depth investigative process took little time to prepare and deliver. It also helped the children to overcome their fear of spiders and helped adjust their preconceptions. The course definitely challenged my thinking about science and has made it a much more enjoyable experience for the children I teach and for me. For them it's fun, informative and hands-on, they cant believe that it's actually a lesson. The outcomes and observations produced are outstanding. I can't believe the amount of information they could absorb in such a little amount of time.

Peter Farmer ~ Reception Teacher CIS Moscow

Maggie provided relevant and up to date materials. The course was very relaxed with flexibility built into the day so that we could plan and swap resources."

Ella, New ICT Coordinator

The course was good for providing creative and practical strategies and is very helpful in defining and evaluating the role of an ICT coordinator."

Richard, ICT Coordinator

Maggie was an outstanding course leader who was informative and provided realistic content."

Carly, KS2 Teacher and Science Co-ordinator