Website delivery of resources is clearly becoming the way forward with some excellent online learning resources out there. Top of my list this year has to be Granada Learning’s Primary Zone and Digitalbrain’s site. This service offers access to almost 100 educational activities curriculum-matched across the core subjects of numeracy, literacy and science. Take advantage of the site’s 30-day free trial. Digitalbrain offers schools a Web portal par excellence and additionally, with the 33-strong London LEA Consortium, the London Grid for Learning portal. Once the broadband feeds are provided, this is surely set to change forever the use of ICT in London’s 2,500 schools.

Although lacking innovation of late, the software scene nevertheless sports some terrific items. 2Simple Software will be showing its excellent Infant Video Toolkit. What an impact on early years teachers this little gem has had this year. Sherston Software will be showing StartWrite2 which makes teaching handwriting and preparing worksheets easy and saves you hours of work. It is now updated to include fully cursive fonts and is compatible with the National Literacy Scheme. Similarly, don’t miss Sherston’s brand new Literacy Boxes developed specifically for infants covering many of the Word level objectives in the National Literacy Strategy. Blackcat Software (now part of Granada Learning) also has some excellent software: check out Blackcat LOGO which is arguably the best LOGO for key stage 1 ever, while Fresco has been designed to take educational art graphics programs into a truly new creative area. Granada Learning’s Young Writers’ Workshop is an impressive example of how ICT can integrate totally with key stage literacy. It positively encourages writing in different genres.

To really challenge your able mathematicians, 4Mation Educational Resources’ Maths Circus Act 3, like its predecessors, provides plenty of practice and enhancement for a wide range of maths skills. Always one to have. Are you old enough to remember Podd? Scally is a loveable little alien from Topologika Software inspired by Podd, that favourite from the Eighties. Scally encourages children to learn about verbs by performing them. Delightful isn’t the word!

Want to bridge the gap between working with a floor robot and on-screen LOGO? Now you can with Swallow Systems’ low-cost PIP and PIXIE screen simulators. These excellent programs allow children to do some simple PIXIEPIP activities on the computer screen instead of on the table top or floor.

RM will be again showing its superb Easiteach Maths. When used with an interactive whiteboard and Internet connectivity to the online subscription service, this whole-class solution for teaching numeracy must surely represent the ultimate in numeracy teaching. Indeed, RM’s new subscription- based Primary Maths Portfolio provides primaries with a complete maths solution. It includes Easiteach Maths, RM Maths Learning System and SnapShot Numeracy.

On the hardware front do check out two items from Tag Learning. The IntelPlay Digital Movie Creator represents a huge leap forward in the accessibility of video images for multimedia projects at a price we can all afford. The lovely Graphire Graphics Tablet comes complete with a wireless pressure sensitive pen, enabling pupils to draw their own freehand artwork directly into the computer, just as if they were using an ordinary pen and paper.

The DCP Electronics LogIT Explorer is, in my opinion, the best primary data-logger to date. It has been designed to meet the needs of the non-specialist teacher, offering an LCD display, three in-built sensors (light, temperature and sound) and it can also accept additional self-recognising sensors. Look for it on Commotion’s stand.

The only digital camera for school use in my opinion is still the Sony Mavica range (typical price for FD87 is pound;400, a review is on p54). Sturdily built, large enough to be “unknickable” and saving superb pictures to floppy discs, these cameras are incredibly practical and useful. Cambridgeshire Software House is the only education supplier from whom you not only get full support but also a free copy of its Mirage picture viewing software.

For a complete primary solution, it is hard to fault RM’s Window Box computers. The new Window Box XP promises to be the very best yet with lots of enhancements.

If your school is planning to install a network in the coming months be sure to insist on Windows 2000 as your operating system so as not to miss out on Viglen’s excellent ClassLink 2000. It arguably offers the best network management tools available to date for primary schools.

Many schools that have installed networks are frustrated at the time wasted in lessons while children wait for an Internet page to load and are looking for solutions to improve their Internet performance. Look no further: Viglen’s ClassLink provides schools with a fully integrated, cost-effective email and Internet server. With its own dedicated hardware, it is an ideal extension of any ClassLink network whether server-based or running on a peer-to-peer network. Indeed, it comprises both hardware and software components to totally address a school’s Internet requirements.

RM too, has its own solution to help schools make the most of the Internet - SmartCache. Both of these solutions allow schools to make much more effective use of their Internet bandwidth, especially when carrying out whole-class activities.

Lastly, for complete innovation, search out the i-Desk on the Time Education stand. This could be just what you need to create a network in an existing classroom. These unique desks, with computers built into the drawers and sporting swivelling, flat-screen monitors, can be grouped in all manner of ways to suit many classroom arrangements. Fascinating.

Chris Drage is a writer, networking academy manager and primary ICT adviser