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SuperClubsPLUS Latest News
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Wow Words and Connectives
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Improving Writing Skills - with SuperClubsPLUS Mobile
Teacher James Blomfield and his pupils visited Be Very Afraid III to show their WW2 movie project and explain how using SuperClubsPLUS Mobile has helped their writing.
Watch the movie at Be Very Afraid III.
"In addition to higher order skills it’s encouraging creative thinking. For example, the children have been doing some collaborative writing using a secure online environment called SuperClubsPLUS
They are writing science fiction stories, posting them up on the internet, then getting their friends and peers to send in their comments - positive but also negatives. So making positive suggestions like, maybe you should use more connectives, better sentence openers It’s a peer learning effect where they are actually helping each other to raise the level and the standard of their writing and that’s without me.
I started the project, but they are making it happen. We have been using hand held devices to enable the children, to empower the children to walk around the school or to take the devices home and work from home and we found that giving children that capability has completely changed their relationship to the technology and to the course work
So often, the problem for primary school kids especially year 5/6 when they are nine and ten years old is that they have to wait at home - they are the last person to use the internet after mum and dad and after older brothers and sisters doing their GCSEs. So giving them kit which enables them to connect to the internet really transforms their ability to work." - James Blomfield, Capel Le Ferne Primary School at Be Very Afraid III
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It’s Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
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Remote learning with SuperClubsPLUS Mobile
Teacher James Blomfield and pupil, Chris, explain how using SuperClubsPLUS Mobile helps Mary Poppins child star keep up with school work.
Watch the movie at Be Very Afraid III.
Chris: "My school gives me work to do on my Palm and it’s much easier than taking books and writing it down ‘cos I can just store it on here."
James: "Interestingly, one of the first reasons we started with handhelds and wireless networks was one of our pupils was in a London show Mary Poppins and his parents were very concerned that he was missing a lot of school work. Having the handheld device has meant that Chris could be part of the school when he is out of the school. He doesn’t feel so excluded because we can post him work and keep tabs on his progress, so it’s made him and his parents feel more comfortable that he can keep up with the work that we set him."
"Chris: The school work I am sent is basically the work that we do in class but sometimes the tutor sends an extra bit because I do quite a lot of tutoring up there [London] and I normally finish most of it. And it’s also good in a way because it [the Palm] connects to the web and the school has SuperClubsPLUS and I can email my friends and teacher from up there." -James Blomfield, Capel Le Ferne Primary School at Be Very Afraid III
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Scholastic's Hot Authors
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We've teamed up with Scholastic Publications to bring their best authors to our SuperClubsPLUS and GoldStarCafe members. Now the children can meet the authors in their online learning communities.
We kicked off with Hot Seat forums with Rachael Wing, teenage author of Starcrossed and followed up with Nick Arnold the inventive author of the Horrible Science series.
The children just love being able to talk to these real life authors and they found the Hot Seats highly inspirational. In just one hour of Nick's Hot Seat 4037 children visited him, 966 took part in his online poll about what book he should write next and he had to answer 420 questions.
We're grateful to Scholastic for making the authors available to the children.
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Kids and Mobile Phones Research
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In association with New Media Age, Intuitive Media has carried out research into its SuperClubsPLUS and GoldStar Cafe community membership. We surveyed over 1500 children and asked how they use their mobile phones. Here are a few of the findings:
- 72% of the children aged 7 - 13 own their own mobile phones
- 53% of 8 to 9 year olds own their own mobile phone
Music
- 29% of children say they share music with their friends via Bluetooth
- 21% say they like to play music out loud in public places
Safety
- 23% of girls and 16% of boys said they had received bad message on their mobile phones. The messages ranged from unwanted advertising to insults from friends, bullying, rude messages and images, to scary and threatening calls.
- 11% of children said their parents give them no rules about using the Internet on their mobile phones. Of those who had given rules, they related to: 17% money, 12% behaviour, 10% talking to strangers.
Intuitive Media’s Protected Learning Communities for children and young people offer a unique opportunity to reach an audience of over 100,000 age-authenticated children to engage their interest and research their needs, tastes and opinions. IM conducts research into the membership base for government and commercial organisations to provide authentic Learner Voice evidence to inform policy-making, planning and development.
Download the press release here.
Download the full report here.
If you want to know what our children think, please contact us.
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SuperClubbers are Better Learners - Official!
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Latest independent research from the University of Hertfordshire proves that Intuitive Media's SuperClubsPLUS Protected Learning Community can really help children become better learners and more responsible citizens. Dr Karen Pine, who first evaluated SuperClubs in 2004, returned July to September 2006 to research the new generation SuperClubsPLUS. her new findings (available for download here) confirm the social and learning benefits for children:"Participation in SuperClubsPLUS will not only extend children's knowledge and skills but will also contribute towards making children better learners and more responsible citizens." - Dr Karen Pine SuperClubsPLUS chidren enjoy their autonomy, but also enjoy working together: "Children show high levels of motivation, autonomy as well as a healthy balance of independence and collaboration." There are clear curriculum benefits too: "Creativity, ICT and literacy skills flourish within SuperClubsPLUS and it is an excellent environment for children to learn active citizenship." The children learn by doing and they learn from each other: "Clearly, many teachers have already begun to see SuperClubsPLUS as an invaluable tool for 'teaching' ICT, although in fact the learning is experiential and facilitated by peer interaction and little teaching seems to be required." A thorough examination of the safety features led Dr Pine to conclude:"The safety features and safety record of SuperClubsPLUS was found to be exemplary, affording children the highest possible degree of protection within a protected and mediated environment." Dr Pine's report concludes: "As e-learning features more significantly in education and on-line communities proliferate, SuperClubsPLUS will come to represent the industry standard."
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Intuitive Media has launched a new LITE version of SuperClubsPLUS, which is free to all children in UK schools.
The LITE version allows children to enjoy a rich learning experience in the community. Children can:- Build their own Home Page and visit other children's Home Pages
- Read and research all the Clubs, Forums and Web Rings
- Email their teacher and the mediators
- Contribute to the sponsored Forums and Clubs.
- Do the Community Rules Star
- Take part in Quizzes and prize Competitions
Parents or Teachers can pay to upgrade their children any time they wish to the PLUS version, where children can do all the above and more:- Create multiple Home Pages and School Project Pages
- Write articles for their School Pages
- Create their own Web Rings
- Send and receive unlimited Emails to other children, mediators and their teacher
- Do all the ICT Star Awards and earn extra Home Pages
- Join the TechTeam and learn how to help other children
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SuperClubsPLUS goes Mobile |
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ANNOUNCING A WORLD FIRST FOR CHILDREN
SuperClubsPLUS (Intuitive Media’s Protected Learning Community for primary school children) has gone mobile. Children can now keep in touch with their SuperClubber friends on their handheld devices. For the first time in history, children can communicate through safely mediated email and discussion forums on PSP, Nintendo and Palm devices.
SuperClubsPLUS Mobile was first featured at the DfES Be Very Afraid III event at Bafta on 2nd October 2006. Before a discerning audience of leading educators, James Blomfield, Head of ICT, and his pupils from Capel-le-Ferne primary school in Folkestone were the very first to log on to SuperClubsPLUS through the Bafta wi-fi network on their PSPs and Palms. The children showed how they help each other improve their story writing by publishing stories online and reviewing each other’s work.
“One of my pupils, 10-year-old Christopher Thomas, plays a lead role in the West End production of Mary Poppins and spends lots of time out of school. Christopher and his parents are now delighted he can continue to learn and keep in touch with me and his classmates - at home and in the theatre with SuperClubsPLUS.” - James Blomfield
A week later SuperClubsPLUS Mobile launched at the Handheld Learning Conference in Westminster to an audience buzzing with the potential of using handhelds to support personalized learning.
SuperClubsPLUS Mobile on web-enabled handhelds, with its professionally mediated email and discussion forums allows children to safely keep in touch with their teachers and their friends - at school, on the move, at home, in the library, on holiday - wherever they have wi-fi connection.
Research commissioned by DfES to assess the potential of handheld devices for personalized learning shows that 40% of SuperClubsPLUS members own the necessary handheld devices and another 35% may get Nintendo DS or PSP for Christmas. So we expect over half the SuperClubsPLUS members will be able to get connected and safely stay in touch with learning- wherever they are.
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The SuperClubs online learning community has been going for over 4 years and is now the biggest online primary classroom in the world - an incredibly active place where children aged 6 to 12 and their teachers meet friends, share interests and learn together during school, after school and at home - all under the safe guidance of Intuitive Media’s professional mediators.
SuperClubs started as part of DfES-supported GridClub - a collaborative venture between Intuitive Media and Channel 4 (later Grid Learning). Both GridClub partners have now decided to build on our success and pursue our work independently. At Intuitive Media we plan to expand the range of our online learning communities and so…on 3 April 2006 Intuitive Media launched the new upgraded SuperClubsPLUS community separate from the GridClub website.
In consultation with DfES, Learning Teaching Scotland and thousands of teachers and children, we’ve been developing the new SuperClubsPLUS, which launched on 3 April at: www.SuperClubsPLUS.com. Here teachers and children will enjoy a whole new look and lots of new features for school and home learning including communication with children overseas. It will be part of Intuitive Media’s all - age learning community provision.
So you’ll get...
- Safe Email and Forums - mediated communication with 100,000 friends across the UK
- Home Pages and Clubs - to share learning and interests
- Star Awards - to develop ICT, Web-Safety, Literacy and eCitizenship skills
- School Home Pages and School Forums - your own projects for your children
- Teacher's Tools - to see what your children are learning
- Staff Room - to get the best curriculum benefits
- International friends
- And lots more including special Premium features
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"Intuitive Media have got it spot on" - The Guardian Evaluate
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Evaluate has published a stunning Interim Evaluation report for SuperClubs (now upgraded to SuperClubsPLUS). Evaluations are carried out by classroom teachers, based on a three week study of the resources. Teachers will now go on to use the projects in school for a further six weeks, after which the full evaluations will be published.
Evaluate is the Digital Evaluation Service appointed by the DfES to assess products registered on Curriculum Online. It is partnership between Learnthings and The Guardian.
Here are some extracts:
Intuitive Media have got it spot on. The site uses a good balance of colour and images to help direct the user to various areas.
This website aims to enable pupils to rapidly gain skills in website design and management, and to learn the protocols involved with safe chat.
Pupils accessing this site might be able to achieve as high as level 5 or even 6 in the ICT Exchanging and sharing ideas strand... a safe interaction with other schools to fulfill the need to practice email and...a deeper understanding of what it is to be a good citizen, along with learning much about our world in a PSHE context. The varied nature of the sub-pages and forums will engage just about all pupils in some way. With so much to do and choose from, it is unlikely that pupils will get bored at home or at school. This site offers what many schools would love to provide themselves.
Read the full evaluation
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SuperClubs Goes Five Star! |
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Intuitive Media’s GridClub SuperClubs (now upgraded to SuperClubsPLUS) has been awarded 5 stars by Schoolzone, the renowned school support website. Teachers are invited by Schoolzone to evaluate ICT-based educational resources, and give each a star rating out of 5. With up to a million users every month, Schoolzone is one of the UK’s most visited education websites, and has become a valuable research community for many UK teachers.
SuperClubs has been running as a subscription service in England since September 2004. In Northern Ireland and Scotland, primary schools are funded centrally and have free access. With over 110,000 users and 4.6 million emails sent, many primaries now see the SuperClubs as a key part of embedding ICT at KS2. Primary leavers have a special Forum on the SuperClubs to say goodbye to all their online friends, and it’s clear that many are sad to leave the SuperClubs behind:
"SuperClubs is soooooo cool I don’t want to leave. I will be sad not being able to talk to all my friends from other schools"
"I will miss everyone on SuperClubs, thanks for making this site the best!"
Carole Fletcher, Managing Director at Intuitive Media, is delighted that teachers and Schoolzone have recognised the excellent resource that GridClub provides to primary schools:
"SuperClubs is enormously popular with Key Stage 2 children. Our team are continually impressed with the contributions our SuperClubbers make to the online community, demonstrating a high level of ICT, Communications and Literacy skills. Children are extending their learning into the home and are also supporting their peers by treating each other with care and respect. GridClub SuperClubs is loved by 7 year olds too - it is not just for the older children."
Find out more or contact our friendly Registrations team on Freephone 0800 169 1024.
Intuitive Media is launching GoldStar Cafe in July - an online community for 11 to 14 year olds. To find out more visit http://www.goldstarcafe.net
Read the SuperClubs Evaluation on Schoolzone
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ICT in Practice for Scottish Education |
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Intuitive Media have become a leading light in online communities in Scotland, and to prove it, GridClub SuperClubs (now upgraded to SuperClubsPLUS) has been featured in the Summer 2005 edition of Connected - Learning and Teaching Scotland's ICT in practice publication for Scottish Education.
The Scottish Executive, SEED, are funding the SuperClubs centrally throughout Scotland, which means that Scottish schools continue to receive the service free. This is a cast iron endorsement of the value of SuperClubs and a testament to the commitment of Intuitive Media to provide the best online community for children nationally. Intuitive Media has also been selected to provide take2theweb for the Scottish Schools Get Online Scheme provided by LTS - which also provides an online facility for schools to create their own online collaborative environment which can involve the whole community.
Read the full article
Download Connected Issue 13
More press articles about Intuitive Media projects
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SuperClubs Free to Schools in Scotland and Northern Ireland |
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The Scottish Executive Education Department (SEED) and Classroom 2000 (C2K) have agreed to provide SuperClubs (now upgraded to SuperClubsPLUS) centrally for all their Primary schools - for another year, until March 2006. SuperClubs will continue to be FREE at source to all Primary schools in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
This is the news that children in Scotland and Northern Ireland have been waiting for, enabling them to continue to participate in the SuperClubs online community environment. Children around the UK are gaining new ICT skills by contributing to the many communication features in SuperClubs.
Intuitive Media has also appointed two new Mediators in Northern Ireland; Intuitive Media Director, Carole Fletcher says, "Both have a passion for the creativity, collaboration and a cross-curricular approach to the curriculum. Sadie Crossey and Grainne Gormley will bring a breath of fresh air to the training of SuperClubs in Northern Ireland."
There are also a number of Teacher Partners soon to become part of the SuperClubs team. Intuitive Media is offering training in Mediation of Online Communities - a very new and important skill teachers will need in the future.
If you are interested in becoming a SuperClubs Teacher Partner, please Contact Us
Find out more about the new SuperClubsPLUS
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SuperClubs - the Essential Tool for ICT at KS2 |
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Children in the UK are clamoring to pass a series of SuperClubs ICT tests. SuperClubs (now upgraded to SuperClubsPLUS) is the most successful online community for Key Stage 2. December 2004 saw the launch of the highly successful Star Scheme, an ICT accreditation award for children in the SuperClubs community. The Star Scheme encourages children to work through a series of ICT tasks relating to Key Stage 2 targets, to gain white, red, and now green stars to display on their home pages. Gaining three stars wins the child an additional home page.
The latest star to be launched is the Green Star, awarded to children who achieve specific email and communication tasks. Within one day of its launch, a staggering 747 children had already completed the test and received their awards. Many of these children took the test at home.
Well over 19,000 stars, representing progressive levels of achievement, have been awarded to date.
Further 'Stars' will be launched throughout the year. UK children are wildly excited about gaining accreditation for their participation in the SuperClubs, proving that children want to learn and communicate online and are developing very sophisticated ICT skills.
SuperClubs Mediator Dawn Adams says, "The morning the Green Star was due to be launched, I had two emails from girls who had been waiting since 6.00 am to take the Green Star test!"
Find out more about SuperClubs
Visit SuperClubsPLUS
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And the winner is... GridClub! |
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GridClub SuperClubs (now upgraded to SuperClubsPLUS) is best for Home Learning - it's official!
Among stiff competition from the BBC, BT and others, GridClub has won the 2004 BIMA Training and Home Learning Award!
The British Interactive Media Association Awards (BIMA), is the most prestigious new media competition in Europe, and BIMA's annual awards set the standard for the industry, celebrating creative excellence and craftsmanship within digital media.
SuperClubs offers outstanding opportunities for primary school children in the UK to learn some of the most important skills that educators and employers agree they need for the rest of their lives - how to use ICT, how to communicate better, how to work independently and as part of a team. Children can access SuperClubs from school, home, or the public library - in fact from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection - to work with their class teachers and online friends across the UK on curriculum-related projects.
Importantly SuperClubs offers children an opportunity to learn at home while having fun. This has been recognized by the judges of BIMA in awarding this prestigious award to Intuitive Media. The gap between learning at school and home is closing - thanks to SuperClubs.
At the ceremony, Intuitive Media Director, Carole Fletcher said, "This is a fantastic accolade. The SuperClubs team are committed and passionate people who believe in creative education and empowering future generations. SuperClubs is a must for every child. SuperClubs prepare children for the online world they are a part of, enabling them to creatively participate and communicate."
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GridClub is an innovative online education project for 7-11/12 year olds. It comprises two parts - the GridClub Website with 500 educational learning activities and games, and the GridClub SuperClubs - a unique protected online community for children. The SuperClubs (now upgraded to SuperClubsPLUS) and Website are now available as subscription services for schools in England, and are funded centrally in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The launch of the new SuperClubs was featured in the Times Education Supplement Online Magazine this week. Here are some extracts:
"The website has new materials for modern languages...as well as lesson plans. SuperClubs covers subjects ranging across the whole curriculum and includes Breakfast and Homework Clubs."
Intuitive Media's Robert Hart said, 'We've been delighted at the response from schools, who clearly value the protected online SuperClubs community enough to pay for it.'"
Anne Donaldson, ICT manager at Beaumont Junior school, Aldershot said, "I consider SuperClubs to be part of the school's basic ICT toolkit and it offers really good value."
Many schools are funding membership through eLearning Credits, PTA funds, or parental contribution.
To subscribe, or find out more, call our friendly membership services team FREE on: 0800 169 1024
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GridClub has been shortlisted for an Award by BIMA, the British Interactive Media Association. GridClub, including the SuperClubs protected learning community (now upgraded to SuperClubsPLUS) has become the UK's most popular online resource for children aged 7-11 and their teachers, and is listed as a contender for the Training and Home Learning Award.
GridClub was launched in January 2001 with the support of the DfES (Department for Education and Skills). It is now also supported by SEED (Scottish Executive Education Department) and C2K (Classroom 2000). The SuperClubs continue to offer a uniquely safe and rich environment for children to communicate online with each other.
The SuperClubs are a protected, professionally mediated environment where children, at home and at school, can take part in forums, create their own Home Pages and communicate with each other using a secure email system. Intuitive Media's team of experienced professional Mediators protect, stimulate, and encourage children to be creative and to extend their school learning into the home.
Winners will be announced on 23rd November at a prestigious award ceremony in Chelsea, London.
View the shortlist
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SuperClubs - Children Expressing Themselves |
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In January 2004, Intuitive Media and Channel 4 launched the brand new Portal Clubs in GridClub. Since then, the Clubs have seen a phenomenal increase in activity - over 48,000 new children and over 3,800 new teachers from 3,100 schools have joined the Clubs since the launch. Numbers are rising fast, at a average rate of 5,000 new children every week.
The new clubs are now seamlessly integrated within the GridClub website, giving children and teachers safe and easy access to an online community. Safety is at the very heart of this innovative community, which provides a rich communication environment that Clubbers love.
Members can use safe email facilities and discussion forums, and can create and customise their own home pages.
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It's Official - SuperClubs is SAFE! |
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Safety Award for GridClub
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GridClub, including the SuperClubs our online education project for 7-11 year olds, has won the Internet Watch Foundation Award for its Contribution to a Safer Internet. Organised by the Internet Service Providers Association, the Award was presented to Intuitive media and partners, Channel 4 at a high profile event at the Marriot Hotel, Grosvenor Square, London on 19 February 2004. Other nominees included Disney Online, BBCi, Freeserve and ERICA (European Research into Consumer Affairs).
Intuitive Media has recently re-launched its safe online clubs for children. Within a month of the launch of the new clubs, over 20,000 new children have joined and numbers are rising fast. It works, the kids love it - and now the most prestigious Internet Service Providers say that its SAFE.
Find out more
Visit" target="_top">http://www.superclubsplus.com">Visit GridClub
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SuperClubs Success at SETT 2003 |
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"It’s refreshing to visit a stand were you can talk to exhibitors who are fellow primary teachers, who understand the primary classroom in Scotland!" This is a quote from one of the many visitors to the GridClub stand at SETT 2003, the Scottish Education and Teaching with Technology show.
GridClub has had an ever-growing presence at SETT, and 2003 has been our most successful year. The team gave two well-attended seminars, and two teachers from Angus gave presentations on how their pupils use GridClub Clubs which is approved by SEED, both in and out of class. Both teachers emphasised their enthusiasm for the secure environments of the Clubhouse and the relevance of the content to the 5-15 Guidelines.
But perhaps the stars of the whole show were the children from Thorn Primary in Renfrewshire and Davidson’s Mains in Edinburgh. These two teams of “veteran ? GridClubbers took the stage on the NGfL In Action stand, right in the heart of the exhibition, and enthralled the crowds with their coolly professional presentations on how they use GridClub Clubs in school and at home.
Chris Coyle, Assistant Head at Davidson’s Mains said: “The Clubs community is a valuable tool for us. It provides a range of content that is matched well to the skills, knowledge and attitudes that we are trying to develop at school, but as far as the kids are concerned, ‘The Clubs are just so Cool!' ?
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GridClub Clubs Kids' Council Visits House of Commons |
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Twenty-four GridClub Clubs community members from across the UK converged on the Houses of Parliament in London on 27 June. The children, who were accompanied by their teachers, were all members of the Kids' Council, Intuitive Media's online community within GridClub. Members of the Kids' Council discuss ways to improve the Clubs and talk about other topics important to children such as SATS and careers.
After a highly informative tour, the Council met John Barrett MP and Patsy Calton MP, who represent two of the constituencies where Kids' Council children live. The MPs were quizzed in depth on many things from exams to the Euro. The Kids' Council then went on to discuss GridClub, and made development recommendations for the project. They then presented their manifestos for the new 2003-2004 Kids Council.
All in all it was a day to remember for everyone. The Kids' Council represents all the members of the Clubs, but they also proved true ambassadors for their schools, families and countries.
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Intuitive Media's GridClub has earned us our tenth award in three years. Along with our partners DfES, Channel 4 and Oracle we won the British Education & Training Technology Award for Learning Beyond the Classroom.
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