🌟 St Joseph’s Primary Achieves Digital Schools Award! 🌟
We are absolutely delighted to share that St Joseph’s RC Primary School has been awarded the prestigious Digital Schools Award, recognising our school’s excellence in digital learning and teaching!
This award celebrates the hard work, innovation and collaboration of our pupils, staff, families and wider community in creating a truly digital learning culture where every child has the opportunity to thrive. We are pleased to share a summary of the assessor feedback:
💻 A Visionary Approach to Digital Learning
Our assessor praised the clear and effective leadership shown in developing digital learning at St Joseph’s. Under the strong direction of Head Teacher, Mrs Mandy Whorlow, who also leads our digital strategy, the school has placed digital technologies at the heart of our School Improvement Plan. Working closely with Principal Teacher, Mrs Natalie Lisi (AI Lead) and Class Teacher, Miss Katie Scott (Attainment through Digital), the team has built a purposeful vision that is embedded across all aspects of school life.
🤝 Collaboration and Community
St Joseph’s was commended for its collaborative approach—both within our cluster and with national partners including DG Digital Leaders, DG STEM, Education Scotland, Tech She Can, STEM Ambassadors, My World of Work and the Glasgow Science Centre.
Through this network, our teachers have taken part in high-quality professional learning and shared best practice across schools, helping to grow digital confidence and expertise across our region.
🌈 Inclusion, Equity and Wellbeing
The assessor highlighted our strong commitment to inclusion and equity, noting our effective use of assistive technologies and differentiated approaches to ensure all learners can access and succeed in digital learning.
Digital wellbeing and cyber resilience are woven into our Health and Wellbeing curriculum, with ongoing support for families to encourage safe and responsible use of technology at home.
🧠 Digital Learning in Action
Digital technologies are now fully embedded across the curriculum, enriching learning in literacy, numeracy and beyond. Pupils confidently use tools like Sumdog, Readingwise, Sway, PowerPoint and Scratch, while our Digital Leaders support peers, lead clubs and promote positive digital culture throughout the school.
Interactive smartboards and iPads have transformed learning experiences—encouraging creativity, collaboration and independent learning.
🧍♀️ Pupil Voice and Leadership
Our Pupil Digital Leaders play a key role in school life—supporting classes, leading workshops and promoting digital citizenship through events like Safer Internet Day. Their enthusiasm and expertise were recognised as a real strength, helping to embed digital learning across all stages.
📚 Professional Learning and Leadership
The assessor also commended the school’s strategic and forward-looking professional learning programme. All staff have engaged in digital training aligned with national frameworks, including accessibility tools, coding, and AI in education. This has led to increased staff confidence and innovative classroom practice.
🌍 A Connected and Future-Focused School
Despite the rural setting, St Joseph’s has built a strong and sustainable digital infrastructure, ensuring reliable Wi-Fi, equitable device access and secure data practices. Pupils and staff make excellent use of Microsoft Teams, Glow and cloud platforms to support learning anytime, anywhere.
🏆 This award is a wonderful recognition of the dedication and creativity of our whole school community. We are incredibly proud of our pupils, staff and families for embracing digital learning and helping us prepare every learner for the future.
Together, we’ve shown that even a small rural school can achieve big things through innovation, collaboration and a shared vision for digital excellence.
Well done, Team St Joseph’s! 💙💻✨
💫 Linking Our Achievement to Our Values
Our success in digital learning connects directly to our commitment to developing the whole child through Scotland’s national frameworks:
- UNCRC Article 29 – Every child’s education should develop their personality, talents and abilities to the fullest.
- SHANARRI – Achieving: Our pupils are supported to reach their potential through engaging, accessible and creative digital learning.
- Meta-skills – Creativity: Learners use digital tools to design, problem-solve and innovate for the future.
- Four Capacities – Successful Learners: Pupils are motivated, confident and equipped with the digital skills they need for lifelong learning.
