Award winning website brings curriculum to life

08/07/2009 - London

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority has won a 'Best in Class' award for its national curriculum website at the 2009 Interactive Media Awards (IMAs). The site outlines stautory requirements, provides guidance, tools and activities to support schools in designing and developing their curriculum, enabling teachers to plan more easily and with greater confidence.

The QCA was honoured with the award along with its designers, Reading Room. The website was developed to promote the implementation of the new 2008 secondary curriculum.

Since April 2009, visitors to the site have increased by nearly 70 per cent, with an increase of over 67 per cent of completely new visitors. As well as teachers and curriculum planners responsible for implementing the national curriculum, publishers of education materials have also found the site invaluable as a means of ensuring their printed information is fully compliant with the very latest requirements.

The website brings learning to life with the use of filmed and written case studies of schools using innovative and creative ideas to enhance their curriculum and inspire others.

Acting director of curriculum, Sue Horner, said:

'This is a real achievement for QCA and the Curriculum Group. It's great that our vision is recognised and that teachers and learners have understood the curriculum and why it matters. The website helps users make connections between resources in a way that has never been done before. The use of technology has made it much easier for us to communicate with teachers and schools and provide them with the most up-to-date information we can.'

Margaret Manning, CEO, Reading Room said:

'We are over the moon that our work with QCA has been recognised through the IMAs. It was a real joy for us to be able to create some exciting tools and features to complement the fantastic content.'

The website won 489 marks out of a possible 500 to secure the award. It scored full marks - 100 points - for feature functionality and 99 points for standards compliance and cross-browser compatibility. Coming in close behind were content at 98 points, design at 97 points and usability at 95 points.

The site can be visited by going to curriculum.qca.org.uk