Cambridgeshire Community Network (CCN) Meeting - 31st January 2007

Purpose: MEETING CANCELLED

Audience: Headteachers & Chair of Governors of Cambridgeshire Secondary Schools

Following on from the recent CCN meetings held on 17th & 23rd January, the discussions have generated an extension to the Agenda. With having to broaden the agenda, further work will be required before any additional sessions are held. Therefore it has been decided to cancel the meeting scheduled for 31st January at The Oliver Cromwell Hotel in March.

Once a further session has been identified, details will be circulated to all Secondary Schools. If you would be interested in attending a further meeting, please contact ict.courses@cambridgeshire.gov.uk to register your interest.

FMS installed on laptops

Purpose: IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Audience: All Cambridgeshire Schools

We have recently had schools experiencing problems with the installation of FMS6 held on a school laptop. Financial data has been lost and you should be aware that neither Capita nor the ICT Helpline support FMS6 being run as a standalone on a laptop. If your school has FMS6 installed in this way please contact the ICT Helpline on ict.helpline@cambridgeshire.gov.uk for advice.

Total Cost of Ownership - High quality Procurement support, advice and benefit for Cambridgeshire Schools

Purpose: IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Audience: Headteacher, School Leaders, ICT Coordinators, Technicians

The Procurement team always offers best value service, purchasing largely through approved ESPO framework agreements, when they guarantee quality installations and after-sales support for Cambridgeshire Schools.

"Dell is pleased to offer our range of products and services via the Cambridgeshire Education ICT Service as part of a contract awarded via European tender and ESPO.

The tender and Education ICT Service volume of purchasing offers schools the most aggressive and competitive pricing of computer hardware via the Education ICT Service.

The Education ICT Service higher performance Service Level Agreements (SLA) with Dell, further maximises the total cost of ownership (TCO) for your ICT resources. This is achieved by suitable escalation paths, which are only available to the Education ICT Service.

Tim Beeby - Regional Manager for Schools, Midlands Region"

Through the framework agreement with Dell and the volumes of purchase, the ICT Service Procurement team are able to negotiate and offer schools unbeatable prices on like-for-like comparisons of Dell or any other manufactured brand equipment.

For further advice on Procurement please visit www.ictprocurement.ccceducation.net

Subject Leader Meeting - 1st February at Kingsfield Primary

Purpose: CANCELLED MEETING

Audience: ICT Coordinators

Please note due to unforeseen circumstances, the Spring Term Subject Leader Meeting on Thursday 1st February at Kingsfield Primary School, Chatteris has been cancelled. There are alternative meetings being held:

Tuesday 6th February - ICT Service, Godmanchester

Wednesday 7th February - Milton Primary School, Cambridge

4:00pm - 5:15pm

To book a place email: ict.courses@cambridgeshire.gov.uk or call tel: 01480 376670.

The impact of ICT in schools - a landscape review

Purpose: For Information

Audience: All Cambridgeshire Schools

Becta has just published a major review of the evidence on the impact of ICT in schools. The review, carried out by researchers at the Quality in Education Centre, University of Strathclyde, looked at over 350 sources to build a 'big picture' of where and how ICT has had an impact across the schools sector, including:

* Impact on teaching and learning
* Impact on attainment
* Personalisation of the learning experience
* Impact on home-school links
* Impact on administration, management and workload.

The review found that evidence of impact is inconsistent across schools, subjects and technologies. The greatest impact is found where the use of ICT is embedded in everyday classroom experience, has clear educational goals, and is seen as purposeful by pupils. Other key findings include:

* A whole-school strategy that addresses the development and sustainability of ICT is a critical factor in the effective use of technology.

* Teachers' ICT skills have developed significantly over the years, as has the range of both hardware and software available in the classroom - there is evidence that these developments have led to a reduction in teachers' workloads.

* Use of ICT is most effective where teachers integrate a number of technologies - for example, laptops, interactive whiteboards and the internet.

* ICT can contribute to personalising learning by putting greater control in the hands of the learner, but the challenge this presents to the traditional teacher-pupil relationship means this may not always be welcomed.

A copy of the review can be ordered (free of charge) or downloaded from the Becta Publications page:

http://publications.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=28221&page=1835

Starz Project Updates

Purpose: For Information

Audience: All Cambridgeshire Schools

Making the News (MTN) Competition 2006

Congratulations go to St Mary's CE Primary School, St Neots who swept the board at E2BN's Making The News Competition 2006.

The MTN Competition, now in its second year, was open to pupils and students from Primary and Secondary schools in England, Wales and Scotland. Entrants were required to demonstrate their ability to create good news stories and publish them online via MTN. Winners received their certificates and prizes at an awards ceremony on the 10th January at the BETT Show 2007 in London.

Full details on the ICT Service website.

Myths and Legends

Key stage 2 are challenged to develop a Creation Myth using the exciting E2BN online storymaking tool. Find out more about this project via the Starz Projects area.

NEW for Starz

Pupil email monitoring

A new monitoring process has been implemented for Starz pupil accounts.

To get started with this and for more information, we ask for an email from school heads to admin@starz.org.uk.

ICT Service Training Courses

Please click on the link below for information on all ICT Training Courses. Look out for new courses scheduled for 2006-07.

Your school should have a copy of the Cambridgeshire Education ICT Service Training Course Programme, which will give you full details of courses available at Godmanchester and other venues. If you require a further copy for your staff room, please contact ict.courses on Tel: 01480 376670

ICT Training Course Information