Ted Wragg ( TES May 4) deplores the “junior genius” industry which has grown up around curriculum testing and makes a plea for a “hands-on,” scraped knees, harum-scarum, creative approach to learning. Part of his advice is to consign CD-Roms to the rubbish dump where they will be retrieved and turned into kaleidoscopes or other objets d’art by inspired primary teachers.

While I agree that some CD-Roms deserve this fate (they make excellent coffee cup coasters), as the manager of a charity dedicated to encouraging the creative use of computers I can think of many ways that ICT can be used creatively for children’s learning.

For example: send coded text messages from tree-house to tree-house; feature yourself in multi-media epic; personalise wrapping paper to wrap up your granny’s present and have fun looking up “anti-disestablishmentarianism” at the click of a mouse.

Computers can be creative and fun. It just depends how you use them.

Nichola Dawson
Community web project manager, Lifting Expectation and Achievement