Digital Competency

At Ysgol Y Faenol, our shared vision is for every member of the school community to have access to and be confident in using Digital Technology. Every ‘learner’ has opportunities to practice and develop their skills through a variety of curriculum contexts and situations, enabling them to meet digital challenges in whatever situation they should find themselves – home, work, school or leisure. We enrich and extend learning throughout the curriculum, presenting digital learning as a creative and fascinating process in which the children are encouraged to use their own initiative, imagination, reasoning and investigational skill. In Wales all staff and learners have access to Hwb, which provides access to a wide range of digital tools and resources. Learners from Nursery to Year 6 use Hwb extensively at Ysgol Y Faenol. See below for a guide to Hwb and the wonderful digital tools your child has access to at school and at home:

Microsoft Office 365 & Minecraft Education

Teachers and learners in maintained schools in Wales are able to download and install the latest Microsoft Office tools including Word, Excel and PowerPoint as well as Minecraft: Education Edition at no cost on up to 15 devices - through Hwb. Minecraft Education Home Edition is also free to download. 

Britannica Digital Learning is on Hwb

Britannica Digital Learning is a safe online encyclopaedia with age-appropriate resources for learners.

A Britannica Digital Learning search is available in Hwb resources.

1. Log in to Hwb.
2. Click on the Britannica Digital Learning tile.
3. Type a subject into the Search teaching and learning resources search bar and click on the magnifying glass icon to search.
4. At the top of the results list there is an option to Filter resources. You can filter by Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced, depending on the required reading level.
5. Click on the relevant search result, which will open the article in a new tab in your browser.

Accessing the Britannica Digital Learning homepage

Once you have navigated to a resource in Britannica Digital Learning from Hwb, the homepage can be found by clicking on the Britannica School text that appears in the blue ribbon at the top of the page. From here, you can navigate to the home page for each ability level by clicking on Foundation, Intermediate or Advanced.

Just2easy

Teachers and learners in maintained schools in Wales have free access to the suite of Just2easy tools through the Hwb platform.

What can my learners do using Just2easy?
The Just2easy suite features tools for writing, painting, animation, data collection and coding. The tools are suitable for use from Nursery onwards.