Moodle for primary school

My Head is still quite keen to get a VLE up and running, only if it is small to start off with. We have things like WriteOnline, MyMaths and Linguascope but would like a way to tie them all together other then our website.

He is very keen on personalised learning/independant learning/learning outside the classroom (all those buzz words), and likes the idea of small secure forums were kids can work with each other on questions etc...

Has a school out there (preferably primary) had much success with a VLE/Moodle. What do you have to offer on it?

Also, are there any decent Themes out there which would be suitable for a primary school?

Thanks

You could also look at WordPress as an option too ... have a look at creativeblogs.net and primaryblogger.co.uk for ideas about how they can be used.

lol when i was typing the "buzz" words i thought to myself..."this will probably attract Grumbledook!". ;)

Thank you!

If you manage to find a helpful primary school Id really like to pick their brains too. We are a prep school who are also wondering what to put on our Moodle.

We have moodle and we are a middle school so we cover years 5 and 6 of primary. If you are interested, give me a shout.

Stockport LA have Moodle for allt here primaries I believe.

We have no content as yet but have just setup moodle on a new HP mini server (£133.00 after cashback) using MS web apps ... it was very easy. Contact me if you need any help at this level .. Cheers

Google Apps!

We're primary and have an expensive VLE - really its used for sharing links! Previously, every class and year had their own blogs and children could comment on them. It was much easier than the prettier-looking solution we use now; subsequently, it was used more.
Google apps also offers discussion forums, wikis etc... Children could create their own profiles using Google Sites, Blogger. Posterous is also looks good because its so easy to just email any file (pdf, word, pictures, videos) and it will automatically convert it for the web.

Moodle is course management software originally designed for universities. Primary schools don't work like that. I know that some people have got it to work effectively, but I think you need someone who really knows what they're doing to drive it. I would look for something simpler and easier.

I know a couple of local primary schools who do good stuff who would be happy to talk to you if you want. I did a series of posts about ways of using moodle with primaries last year - starting with first one here Basic Moodle: Primary School homeworks | Our Learning In terms of themes there seems to be a trend in primaries to use big colourful icons on the front page that link to course categories or year groups and with Moodle 2 it's easy to customise the many built in themes they have. Sky high is quite bright - and as mentioned before it's worth looking in the Moodle themes directory to see if you spot one you like Moodle Plugins Directory: Category: Themes

We dumped all our vle's and went over to Google Apps for ED.

It's so easy for the staff to use. I run a quick 20 min course and off they go adding content to the class pages. Everything ties together so if you want a document or calendar on the site you simply share it with the site and bingo its automatically added. If you create a slideshow of photos once the folder has been shared with the site you simply add or delete photos in the folder and the site automatically updates the slideshow.

The staff looove how easy it is for them although I did have to create the site layout, but that was as easy as using word.

We are a medium sized secondary but kind of done what your head is looking at and just use used moodle as as central location for most of our webservices Remote access (Nick's off here) to Files, Secure Gateway (PC Access), we link surveys in their too and Forums (Students and Staff), Parental Portal (Insight), Youtube Channel and Social Networking, Resources kind of tried to make it look a bit different to standard website. Heres the link below if you would like a look for ideas etc.

https://moodle.lodeheath.org.uk/