Jonathan Furness presented at the TES Show in London on the theme of 'Building Self-Esteem through Digital Creativity' to a mixed audience of teachers, SENCOs and headteachers.

Using examples of interesting and creative artefacts created by the students at Stepping Stones School, Jonathan demonstrated how using this approach has shown significant progress in the self-esteem of our students.

Two examples used, included: Sailability film, produced for the local sailing club for children and adults with impairments. Also, Shark Attack animation.

Jonathan used an extract from the book, Painted Bird, and made a connection to how children who are seen to be different have their confidence slowly destroyed by the constant impact of others around them, in much the same way as the painted bird suffers at the beaks of the surrounding birds which peck away until death.

Jonathan showed how a small school can have a worldwide audience looking in and that this contributes to students feeling good about themselves. In fact, Stepping Stones, arguably, has a far greater community involvement than some of the large secondary schools in the UK, using Internet technologies.

Slides from Jonathan's presentation can be viewed from here.

Many of these slides included videos and animations that can't be played from here. Jonathan also used several other resources on his computer, which aren't included in this download.

If you wish to discuss this presentation further, please contact Jonathan on 01428 609083,

or email... jonathan at steppingstones dot org dot uk