A new website dedicated to the Manx curriculum is now up and running.
The Manx Curriculum site provides teachers with a wealth of materials, ideas and contacts, while the general public will also find it a useful resource.
The Island’s curriculum is influenced by the English national curriculum but requires schools to reflect the culture, heritage and geography of the Isle of Man in their lessons.
Jo Callister became Advisory Teacher for the Manx Curriculum in September 2008.
She said 'There was already good teaching developing in schools that was linked to the Island.
'This was mainly as a result of the working parties that had been set up for various elements of the Manx curriculum under the auspices of the Education Improvement Service and, of course, through the implementation of the Manx History and Geography Curriculums.
‘It can, however, be time-consuming looking for contact details for Manx organisations or useful Manx websites and a lot of teachers across our 40 schools were also replicating information sheets or images on Manx topics that already existed in another school.’
After speaking with Advisory Teacher for ICT Julie Wilsdon, Jo decided that a central Manx Curriculum website seemed to be the easiest way to make more Manx-based information available for both primary and secondary teachers.
‘With Julie’s help it has all come together very quickly,’ Jo said.
‘The website already contains contact details and information pages about many helpful organisations on the Island, including Manx National Heritage, the Manx Heritage Foundation, the Manx Wildlife Trust and the I Love Manx campaign.
'These and the other pages also include downloadable resources and links to help primary school teachers planning and teaching Manx elements of the curriculum.’
Jo continued ‘The site will be invaluable for providing instant access to resources that already exist such as the primary schools’ Hop tu Naa pack and the secondary schools’ music scheme Kiaull Manninagh.
'Often, resources like these can get put to one side in busy schools but, through the website, they will be continually accessible to all.’
The website has events and training days listed, as well as a photograph gallery onto which teachers can upload photographs of successful Manx work that has gone on in their schools.
The next step will be the addition of a secondary resources area.
Secondary school teachers will be able to log in and access resources relevant to their age groups and upload resources they have created that others can share.
Jo is gathering information from schools to publish on the site and anyone who has anything they think may be useful can email it to her at manxcurriculum@sch.im
