Tech, Quizzes, and Professional Development: Your Friday 5-Minute Digest
By Phillippa Chippendale — ICT in Schools Team
Hello Everyone! Welcome back to your weekly 5-minute Friday digest of tech updates. We’ve gathered the latest news from around the web—covering everything from brand-new curriculum ideas to major tech developments and emerging educational trends.
Grab a coffee, take five minutes, and get up to speed for the week ahead!
☀️ The Live Summer Quiz is Back—With a Special Update!
We are thrilled to announce that we are hosting another live summer quiz via Google Meet!
This year features an exciting first: Key Stage 1 classrooms are invited to participate! To accommodate as many classrooms as possible, we have set up three distinct live time slots for you to choose from.
- Key Stage 1: Exclusively holding the first session of the day.
- Key Stage 2: Two optional slots available (Morning and Afternoon sessions).
📅 Mark Your Calendar: Tuesday, 16th June 2026
Note: Please make sure to fill out a separate registration form for each individual class participating from your school.
📱 Summer Celebration: Social Media & Online Safety
Join us at The Word for our annual Summer Celebration! This year, our focus is squarely on the crucial topics of Social Media and Online Safety.
We invite you to bring a small group of your upper Key Stage 2 children to showcase their ClickView achievements and experiences. It promises to be a highly interactive, fun session with great prizes to be won!
- 📅 When: Tuesday, 23rd June 2026
- ⏰ Time: 12:00 PM – 2:30 PM
- 📍 Where: The Word
- 🧺 Reminders: The session will start promptly at noon, so please ensure children bring a packed lunch.
👉 Click Here to Sign Up for the Summer Quiz & Celebration Events
📅 Upcoming CPD & Duo Training Courses
All listed courses are entirely FREE to schools enrolled in our service agreement. External schools are welcome to book a space for £40 + VAT per attendee.
What is a “Duo Course”?
Our Duo courses offer a fantastic, resource-efficient way to upskill your teaching staff while maximizing your curriculum points with us.
- Step 1: The class teacher attends the scheduled training session.
- Step 2: Book a half-day class visit to The Word so your pupils can try out what you learned.
The Perk: Every class teacher who completes the training session makes their class eligible for the half-day visit at a 50% points discount (30 points instead of the standard 60)! (Please remember that the attending teacher must be present during the class visit for professional development purposes, and schools can only apply this discount once per specific Duo topic).
Summer Course Lineup (All sessions run from 16:00 to 17:30):
- Y3 Sequencing Sounds (using Scratch/Pictoblox) 📅 Thursday, 7th May 2026
- Y4 Repetition In Shapes (using Scratch/Pictoblox) 📅 Tuesday, 19th May 2026
- Y2/3 Stikbot Animation & iMovie 📅 Tuesday, 9th June 2026
- Y5 Vector Graphics (using Google Drawing) 📅 Thursday, 25th June 2026
- Y6 Tinkercad: Creating 3D Sandcastles 📅 Wednesday, 1st July 2026
📨 Ready to build your team’s skills? Contact Julia at [email protected] to secure your school’s slot.
Thank you for tuning in to this week’s issue! We look forward to sharing more educational technology updates, practical ideas for your classroom, and school leadership insights next Friday.
If you have feedback or a specific topic you would love to see highlighted in a future edition, please reach out and give us a shout.
Have a wonderful long weekend!