The Naace Annual Strategic Conference and Exhibition opened in Torquay in early March 2008. This is the definitive ICT Conference in the UK for all those involved in advancing education through the use of modern technologies in learning and teaching.

Naace will be responding in due course to the Byron Review following consultation with Members. At this stage we are pleased to relay the Association's views in response to questions in Chapter 3 of Staying Safe. While we recognise that vulnerable children and young people need to be protected and need to learn how they can protect themselves, it is our view that good practice in the safe use of communication technologies should apply to all children in all educational settings.

In 2006 Naace and QCA held a joint Think tank to try to get to grips with what we really mean by the term 'e-learning'. Like quite a few other e-words that have sprung up in the last year or so, we cannot assume that everyone will use the term in the same way. Does the 'e' just mean electronic, as in 'email', or something more profound?

Paul Williamson has spent a great deal of time empowering teachers in different subjects to use their Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) effectively. The successes have become increasingly apparent with every area of the school moving forward rapidly.

Broadgreen are one of the few high schools across the country that run a baccalaureate programme. The programme is highly successful one for their students and are Becta's ICT Excellence Awards 2008 - joint runner-up award winners for the Best whole school in the North West category.

Neil Oldbury at The Elizabethan School has a real interest in questionnaires and analysing data to improve systems throughout the school. He wanted to know which subject areas and teachers were using the computer suites throughout the school and whether the use of computers was impacting on raising standards.

Brian Elliott is in his fourth year at Moorside and is now the 'e-learning coordinator' who has been an integral part of how the school's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) has helped take a school with issues around ICT and how it was impacting across the school - to the most improved school in the country!!

Crossley Heath have used their Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) in so many ways to improve teaching, the delivery of the curriculum as well as the enjoyment of learning taking place. The following description highlights the way the schools secure email system is being used to help students make dramatic improvements in the quantity and quality of assignments set.

Going to BETT is always an exciting prospect. Will there be new interesting technologies that can enhance the teaching learning process? It is impossible to see everything at BETT, in fact sometimes I think it is impossible to find anything at BETT, it's so huge but I always hope to make new discoveries.

Waiting outside in the weak winter sun I talked to the people around me to understand who was coming to the exhibition. I talked to South Africans, Australians and I could see from the badges that this was a truly international exhibition. We should be proud and realise how lucky we are this event has such a draw.

This article is a personal view of some of the things that caught my eye and it is not meant to be representative of the whole exhibition.