Havering Olympic Dragons' Den

Local school ICT support companies Joskos and Computer Talk have been working to support young entrepreneurs in the London Borough of Havering. The project was organised by Havering School Improvement Services and the aim was for the Primary Schools to bid for funding from the companies for projects with an Olympic theme.

Elm Park Primary School and Parklands Infant School were shortlisted and both went up to give their "sales pitch" on Friday 27th April via Video Conference. Director of Computer Talk, Liam O'Mahony, and Joskos Director, Nick Madavji, linked up to the schools from the Havering Learning and Development Centre at CEME.
Year 2 children from Parklands Infant School (PIS) can be pictured on the left linking live via Video Conference to the Dragons at CEME.

The Dragons, including Brian Bailey, Manager of the London Borough of Havering Educational Computer Centre sat to view the presentation via webcam using JANET VC desktop. The video link enabled the Dragons to question the pupils about their ideas.  PIS was successfully awarded funding for their project from the Dragons which involved the children creating Olympic Sculptures to put around their school grounds.

Elm Park Primary School used JANET Visimeet to link to the CEME pictured below. After careful consideration and much questioning from the Dragons the pupils at Elm Park were also successful with their bid for their "Flying the Flag" project.

Dave Smith - ICT Adviser at Havering School Improvement Services commented, "The Havering Dragon's Den VC event was another example of the excellent use of video-conferencing that is developing in Havering schools.  The way in which the pupils in the participating schools had not only written their own bids, but then presented them so confidently over VC demonstrates the power of the technology to enhance a host of pupil writing, reading and speaking and listening skills - in such a fun way. Full marks to our brave schools for persuading the Dragons in such a convincing manner.  The Dragons were very impressed I must say!"

Pupils and teachers from both schools were delighted to receive funding for their Olympic projects.  It was great to see that desktop video conferencing solutions offered an interoperable and secure way for the Dragons to link directly to the schools
Read more about ICT in Havering - click here 

For more information about JANET Visimeet please click here.
For JVCS desktop click here.

Many thanks to Joskos and Computer Talk for supporting this initiative.