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 On November 29th schools from across the Northern Grid region came together at the launch event of the Northern Grid Leading Schools Network. Only 14 schools had been invited to participate in this network to work with schools which, like them, were doing exciting and innovative things with educational technology.
Northern Grid has been working with schools to provide broadband connections since 1999. Many people don't realise that when it started there was no technical infrastructure in place and our priority wasn't to provide the regional network but to work with teachers and local authority advisors to look at how the technology could be used to support teaching and learning and make a difference in the classroom. This clearly demonstrates that Northern Grid's two priorities were improving teaching and learning and working in partnership with schools. We continue to focus on these priorities and to provide support to all our partner schools.
This support is even more important now than it was when we started. There have been significant changes nationally and locally and much of the support that was previously available from Becta and Local Authorities has disappeared. Increasingly schools are being told that they know best about what is needed and that they should get on with it. While the freedom this gives schools can be welcome many schools don't feel that they have the knowledge they need and they are already strengthening relationships with their local schools so they can work together and learn from each other's successes and challenges. Providing schools with links, contacts that they can call on is the first purpose of the Leading Schools Network.
 Northern Grid works to share best practice across our partner schools and the Northern Grid Awards are one of the ways we do this.
Most of the schools invited to be part of the Northern Grid Leading Schools Network have entered and won awards. Schools that haven't or that haven't entered in the last couple of years won't know that the awards have changed and improved. More of the judging takes place in school, with judges going out to talk to teachers and pupils about their projects.
Successful schools are invited to the awards ceremony and the best part of this event is the exhibition, all schools are given a stand where they can show their project, they get to talk to teachers, LA advisors, commercial companies and other attendees about the work they've done and it's wonderful to hear confident articulate pupils describing what they've done. Schools also get a chance to visit each other's stands and learn about other uses of technology that they can take back and try in school.
 After the event Northern Grid tries to follow up as many of the successful projects as possible by producing case studies but they can never live up to the experience of going in to schools and seeing what is happening first hand. The is the second purpose of the network to identify, capture and present best practice in a way that is of benefit to the members of the group but also for other schools.
We already have a lot of knowledge and expertise to share but we don't have all the answers and the changing nature of technology means that there are always new things to explore so the group will also be able to identify new uses of technology that Northern Grid can support them with.
Northern Grid has expertise in web and multimedia development and can offer support for recording successful projects and is also able to work with schools to develop new resources and support materials
 There is a vast amount of excellent practice in the North East region and as well as sharing this practice it is important to recognise and celebrate the success of outstanding teachers and schools. The awards do this very well and a new category in the last couple of years has been the Teacher Award, now renamed as the Practitioner Award as not everyone making a difference with technology in schools is a teacher.
In 2011 four practitioners were recognised as outstanding:
• Claire Hayden from Norham Community Technology College, North Tyneside
• Myris Groom from St Aloysuis Infants, South Tyneside
• Nicola Padgett from Normanby Primary School, Redcar and Cleveland
• Stephen Ainsley from Harton Technology College, South Tyneside
After the Awards Ceremony I tried to identify why these practitioners were outstanding and what they have in common and a list of these attributes is on my Blog (http://cljack.wordpress.com/teaching-and-learning/what-makes-an-outstanding-teacher).
This list is relevant for this group as these characteristics were important in identifying the schools we invited to be part of the Network. We wanted schools that have a clear vision, that are totally dedicated to teaching and learning and focussed on the needs of their pupils now and in the future. Schools that would support colleagues within their own school but also in other schools both inside and outside of the network. Schools that were always looking ahead to see what else they could find that would make a difference to teaching and learning in their school.
Northern Grid will provide schools in the Network with a Leading Schools Logo to recognise their achievements, they will be promoted on our website, through our newsletters and events and through other organisations we work with, including Schools North East. We often get requests from other organisations looking for speakers for regional and national events and will suggest our Leading Schools.
We wanted schools that would try new things and be honest in their feedback about the success, or otherwise, of new technologies. This honesty would also be important for Northern Grid as the fourth purpose of the group would be to work with Northern Grid to set priorities to provide valuable feedback on current services and how to improve them and to identify what we should work on in future. We also hope that when Northern Grid gets things right the group will promote our work to make sure as many schools as possible take up the services and benefit from our support.
The schools selected to be part of the network have all worked with Northern Grid, many have presented at our events, nearly all have won Northern Grid awards with eight of them winning, or being highly commended in, the Overall Excellence Award. The schools are recognised by their Local Authorities and nationally as using technology effectively. We currently have 12 schools in the network and, over time, we hope this network will grow to include other schools.
The current members are:
For more information about the Northern Grid Leading Schools contact Christine Jack
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