We believe that everyone in the school community should be equipped with the best tools for the task at hand, and that includes digital technology in all its forms.

Our beliefs about how to use digital technology for teaching and learning are grounded in our school aims.

Stepping in: we aim for every girl to feel known, supported, confident and able to shine at Wimbledon High

Technology can help us to ensure that your daughter can work effectively in the way that’s right for her, and for us to support her in that by the use of effective technology for learning. Good systems mean that we can make best use of the tools we have for teaching and learning: sharing work online, timely and rich feedback, and opportunities for students to collaborate are just a few of these. Access to online resources helps develop skills for independent learning.

Striding out: we aim for every girl to leave us prepared to shape the society in which she lives and works.

Using technology in a seamless and ubiquitous way in school prepares our students for the lifelong adaptability and learning habits they will need to thrive in the modern world. Understanding how technology works in society and gaining the subject-specific skills to work with it will equip your daughter to participate fully in the global challenges of the 21st century.

Technology is not an add-on, but an intrinsic part of our work as a school to meet our aims for the girls. Integrating technology seamlessly into our teaching and learning is all part of our innovative STEAM+ agenda – bringing the arts and sciences together. We are tremendously excited by the possibilities that technology offers for a fairer, safer, more equal world, and for our students’ futures too.

What happens in the classroom?

We believe that access to a laptop or tablet device for all staff and pupils allows everyone to use the right tool at the right time for their teaching and learning. BYOD means that, when the teaching and learning require it, the following can take place immediately: collaboration on a shared document, noting data for an experiment, doing some research or using an online tool for learning. And when that task is finished, the laptop lids are closed and other activities can take place – talking, reading, listening, experimenting, making, sharing. Or sometimes a mixture of these things, as the technology facilitates more traditional activities – a quick fact-check during a discussion, or a video explanation rather than a poster.

BYOD is transformative because it moves the school away from an old-fashioned model of teachers needing to book a computer room or a set of laptops for a specific task and then finding themselves stuck with that choice for the whole lesson, which inevitably shifts the focus onto the computer, rather than the learning.

BYOD makes use of digital technology by being:

Authentic – used when it’s needed, judged by the teacher and the requirements of the learning and the students.

An excellent tool – using technology can be part of an excellent lesson, but a lesson is not made excellent by the use of technology. Our students bring out their laptops to use software like Microsoft OneNote, where we can see a clear impact on the quality of learning. We are constantly evaluating and ensuring that our choices are beneficial.

Seamless – the Microsoft 365 apps connect together across our school systems, and the school Wi-Fi network means that we can all work in the cloud, sharing and collaborating, and moving easily between work at school and at home.

Fair - we can use technology to support those neurodiverse students or those with additional needs in the classroom, alongside their peers.

Sustainable - in our purchasing and use of hardware and software, we consider our environmental impact.