Leicester Secondary Schools set to Benefit from a £27 Million Investment into their ICT Infrastructure and Services
20 December 2007
Northgate Managed Services(Northgate) has announced contract completion on its role as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Supply Chain Partner in the winning Miller Consortium bid for the Leicester Building Schools for the Future (BSF) project.
Worth over £27 million, the contract proposes a city-wide solution aimed at enabling all Leicester secondary schools to meet the needs of all their learners and communities. In the course of the project, 16 secondary schools will be entirely rebuilt or refurbished, with four key schools already identified for the initial phase of development, due to start immediately. Northgate Managed Services will focus on delivering over £9.5 million of ICT infrastructure to the first four schools, ensuring that personalised and flexible learning is at the heart of the project.
Having secured Wave 1 funding from the Department of Children Schools and Families (DCSF), Leicester City Council will work with Northgate and the Miller Consortium to focus on the following four schools in the first phase:
- Beaumont Leys Secondary School, Anstey Lane, Leicester
- Fullhurst Community School, Imperial Avenue, Leicester
- Judgemeadow Community College, Marydene Drive, Evington, Leicester
- Soar Valley College, Gleneagles Avenue, Leicester.
Over the next five years, Northgate will be delivering ICT services and infrastructure to these schools. Opening in January 2009 after its rebuild, Fullhurst Community School will be the first to benefit from Northgate’s full managed service, Northgate’s innovative Managed Learning Environment,network and access device installation, ongoing technical support and guaranteed service levels. The three other schools are set to follow in 2009. Committed to ensuring a smooth and successful implementation within every establishment, Northgate is also offering all four preliminary schools comprehensive ICT training commencing in September 2008.
BSF is an extremely important element of Leicester council's strategy to raise educational attainment and offer significant regeneration benefits to some of the socially excluded parts of the city. Under the scheme, every secondary aged child will be educated in a 21st century environment within 15 years. Northgate’s provision of an integrated ICT managed service will help Leicester schools provide their students with an environment in which they can learn anytime, anywhere. Encouraging extended community interaction, the new ICT provision will also support Leicester’s vision to provide a range of services and facilities for children, adults and the local community throughout and beyond the school day.
Northgate’s ICT solution will help Leicester to:
- Address the language and background divide of their pupils; supporting the diverse needs of a diverse population and bridging the gap between students with disadvantaged backgrounds and language barriers.
- Focus on personalised learning; ensuring that students are provided with an interactive learning environment that is tailored to their specific needs and that encourages them to engage in their own learning.
- Raise attainment levels; embedding innovative ICT into the learning process, therefore engaging and motivating previously switched off students.
- Provide anytime, anywhere learning; offering ICT access for students, teachers and parents anywhere and on any device.
- Offer flexibility; basing the managed ICT environment around the learner so that it can be accessed from a different school if required.
- Reduce bureaucracy; enabling teachers to focus on education rather than paperwork and helping them manage learning by providing a complete overview of each individual pupil.
Darren Lemon, Managing Director, Education, Northgate Managed Services commented: ”We are extremely proud to be involved in Leicester’s BSF project which will transform learning and teaching across the city’s schools. Our expertise in both managed services and BSF projects will enable us to support the schools fully as they move to embed ICT both across the curriculum and within management.
We are committed to providing schools not only with the ICT infrastructure they need but also with all the necessary training to ensure they gain maximum benefit.”
