“very interesting and thought provoking and the information was delivered very clearly and concisely”

Northern Grid delivered an in school support session on Parental Engagement to the staff of Ash Trees School in January 2012.

The focus of the session was how technology can be used to support effective parental engagement.

The aims of the 1 hour session were to:

• recognise the importance of parental engagement
• identify how technology can be used to improve parental engagement
• start the process of planning how to develop your school’s approach to parental engagement.

The session included:

• A review of the current literature and research
• Parental Engagement and the Ofsted Evaluation Schedule and the Ofsted Schools and Parents report
• Becta resources
• Technology and how it can be used

Glenn Atkinson, ICT coordinator at Ash Trees provided the following feedback:

“the staff and myself found your input very interesting and thought provoking and the information was delivered very clearly and concisely. I know you had condensed your usual delivery to meet the limited time available for our staff meeting but I do feel you imparted lots of useful information without the feeling of being bombarded with too much.”

For more information about this session contact christine.jack@northerngrid.org

To find out how else Northern Grid can support your school contact support@northerngrid.org

On November 29th schools from across the Northern Grid region came together at the launch event of the Northern Grid Lead 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 Lead 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 Lead 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 Lead 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 Lead 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 Lead Schools contact Christine Jack

Find out about our latest news, upcoming events, and some of the best educational resources on the web in our Monthly Newsletter.
 

This Month

Enter your school for the Northern Grid Awards

Will your eSafety provision deliver an "Outstanding" judgement?

Creative Strategies to Support Literacy KS2

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View the Newsletter »

or...The Importance of Ownership

A superb eSafety video from Northern Grids' ‘Protecting Adults Who Work With Children’ event.

VC Equipment in the following LA’s requires no changes

• South Tyneside
• North Tyneside
• Darlington
• Middlesbrough
• Stockton

VC equipment in the following LA’s requires a change to the Gatekeeper IP address

• Hartlepool
• Redcar & Cleveland

For advice and support please contact your LA or contact Northern Grid on 01914611844 or email mark.vinnicombe@northerngrid.org

Benefit from high quality services included in your broadband price

Subscribers to our newsletter were told about all of the benefits you can get from Northern Grid and the exciting upcoming opportunities throughout the region and beyond.

View the Newsletter

This is a collection of useful information about the services Northern Grid offers and what to do if you want to buy a service from us, or if you want to leave us to go elsewhere.

The broadband Northern Grid provides to schools and Local Authorities is currently provided through Easynet. Our contract with Easynet will expire on July 31st 2012 and Northern Grid is going through a procurement process to identify who will provide our connectivity after this date

This means that information in the documents on this page is likely to change. To make sure you get the most up to date information heads can complete the Expression of interest document. See the Procurement briefing note for more information.

Schools are well aware of the need to keep pupils, teachers, data and systems as safe and secure as possible. All schools need to ensure that they have an up to date Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). To support schools in meeting their eSafety requirements Northern Grid has a responsibility to ensure that the whole Regional Broadband Network continues to be safe and secure. This means that all organisations connected to the network need to abide by a common Northern Grid AUP. As technology changes rapidly this Grid AUP is updated regularly.

The Northern Grid Acceptable Use Policy has been endorsed and approved by the Northern Grid Directors who are all senior managers within partner Local Authorities. Your Local Authority has agreed to abide by this AUP.

This policy applies to all users of the Northern Grid broadband network whoever they are, whatever devices they are using, whenever and wherever they are connected to the network. This also includes users within a directly connected establishment or users connecting to the network remotely.

Any school, LA or other educational organisation using Northern Grid for Learning's Network or Service is required to comply with this Acceptable Use Policy (AUP).

Failure or non-compliance may result in the school's broadband service being disconnected and / or civil, disciplinary or legal action being taken upon individuals, groups of individuals or establishments.

Head teachers must ensure that all users are familiar with the relevant sections of this AUP.

This document refers to the use of the regional Northern Grid network. Schools also need their own Acceptable Use Policy covering the use of the internet and their network by pupils, staff and visitors.

Download the Acceptable Use Policy 2011-2012

Download the Executive Summary of the Acceptable Use Policy 2011-2012

Security Leavers and New Starters
	Good schools have effective security policies and practice. Having these in place enables more creative and positive uses of technology. Does your school have Policies and Practices which support creative uses of online technologies? Knowing who has access to your systems is important. How do you ensure integrity and confidentiality of staff and pupil data? Is your security policy enforced and reviewed regularly? What would be the consequences of public access to your confidential data? Loss of reputation is a key driver for securing your information infrastructure. Why not ask Heads of Departments to remind all users to change their passwords on a termly basis? Northern Grid's resources will be useful. Effective policies which deal with "leavers and new starters", improve the security of your systems and data. Do you remove former pupils and staff from your database to prevent them from accessing your systems remotely once they have left? Is someone tasked with ensuring that email accounts and other online systems have been disabled for those who are no longer part of your establishment? Do you ensure that new starters are provided with secure usernames and passwords which can identify them as unique users on your system? What about continuing staff and pupils? Do you have a system which requires unique usernames and passwords for all users and which has to be changed regularly? Why not ask Heads of Departments to remind all users to change their passwords on a termly basis? Northern Grid's resources will be useful.

eSafety Acceptable Use Policy Updates
	Creative use of communication and social media technologies can have a positive benefit on teaching and learning. Does your policy adequately manage the risks and also ensure effective teaching and learning takes place? When did you last review your Acceptable Use Policy? Is it fit for purpose? Creative use of communication and social media technologies can have a positive benefit on teaching and learning. Does your policy adequately manage the risks and also ensure effective teaching and learning takes place? Policies should be developed and reviewed frequently in consultation with teachers and students. Good schools invite involvement and engagement with parents and carers. Is your AUP underpinned by training, support and a consistent pastoral and discipline system? Do you need to review or audit your AUP? Northern Grid is experienced in working with schools to review practice and develop appropriate and effective eSafety policies and training. Why not visit the eSafety section of our website or contact us for more detailed information. How to write a social media policy.

Technical What about Wireless?
	Wireless networks are common in most schools. They promote flexible and innovative use of technologies and extend the reach of fixed networks. Wireless networks which are well planned and managed support teaching, learning and management in schools. Does your school use a wireless network around the school buildings? Did you know that wireless networks, if incorrectly configured, can slow down the performance of your network? Are you confident that your wireless network is as secure as possible? Failure to put appropriate security levels on your wireless networks could result in your bandwidth being used by others outside the school. This will not only reduce the effectiveness of your network but could result in your data being stolen or corrupted. Why not talk to your network manager or contact Northern Grid’s Technical Officer to find out how your wireless network can be improved?

Broadband Connectivity Is your connection up to scratch?
	Robust, fast and reliable broadband is essential for all schools. It enables creative use of technologies, supports effective management and provides access to a wealth of resources. Do you know what kind of broadband connection you have? Do you know its speed and capacity? How confident are you that you are receiving the bandwidth you pay for? Depending on your broadband provider and the type of connection you have, you could be sharing your bandwidth with other schools or even with other domestic broadband users. Ideally, your bandwidth should be dedicated to you with no more than one jump from your school onto a fast broadband network. Your school broadband connection may be part of a “daisy chain” where other schools share your connection. Why not ask Northern Grid to check your current provision and tell you about our broadband services?

Best Value Do you know how much you can save by being part of Northern Grid?
	Northern Grid buys broadband on behalf of schools in 8 Local Authorities. Because we aggregate broadband demand we save money for schools through volume discounts. Our average 100mb connections cost around £12,000pa. By comparison a commercial 100mb line can cost over £50,000. Last year we saved over £7,000,000 across all the schools in our seven Local Authority partners. We pass these savings to our LAs so that they can pass them on to their schools. From this academic year, we will be working more directly with schools. Why not ask Northern Grid to provide you with details of new broadband products and pricing? Schools benefit from other best value offerings. We deliver nationally procured software such as Audio Network and the British Pathe Archive. We offer school based support on eSafety and integrating learning platforms. Attendance at our regional events and conference is available to all schools in the region and free of charge to Northern Grid partner schools.

Procurement Do you know how much you can save by procuring smartly?
	Volume discounts add up and save schools money. Your school could join together with other schools and together develop more buying power. Suppliers prefer to work with one key contact rather than lots of individual schools. Why not talk to other schools in your area? Once you have done that, contact Northern Grid to ask how we can deliver greater savings by procuring on your behalf across schools in the North East.

Engaging Parents Do You Exploit Technology To Engage Parents?
	Many parents are keen to use technology to keep in touch with their children’s learning. Some schools use mobile devices which pupils take from home to school. These can help engage parents with homework or enable them to understand what their children do in class. Why not find out from other schools how they are using mobile devices to support learning and increase interactions with parents or contact Northern Grid for advice? Technology can be used to communicate with large numbers of parents quickly. Good examples of using bulk text messages include when a school has to be closed in an emergency. Many schools have access to learning platforms. These can be used to share information on how well children are doing at school by sharing assessment data confidentially with parents. Online resources can be accessed and parents can communicate with teachers about their children’s learning. Why not ask your pupils to show their parents how they use the school’s learning platform?

Staff Development Do staff make best use of your investment in IT?
	As part of your drive to become an outstanding school, you spend thousands of pounds each year in maintaining and improving your ICT and broadband provision. Do you know if your teachers use these resources effectively to engage and motivate learners? Why not ask Northern Grid to help you undertake an assessment of staff ICT skills to ensure that professional development is targeted to best effect? Many teachers now have good personal IT skills but may not have considered how effective use of IT can support teaching and learning. What about asking teachers to share online blogs on how they exploit the interactivity of ICT to support a range of teaching styles? Northern Grid has extensive experience of using social media to support teaching and learning. Why not ask us to help?

Environmentally Sustainable Could you save money and energy by using The Cloud?
	Have you ever thought how much power is used by all the IT equipment in your school? Have you noticed how server cupboards become hot and how you have to install expensive air conditioning to keep them all in working order? You could save significant costs and reduce your electricity consumption by moving your data and applications into “The Cloud”. Security and safety issues need to be addressed when moving data and systems off site but there are savings to be gained. You will be doing your bit for the planet too. Why not ask Northern Grid how you could use the regional hosting system to move power hungry systems out of your school?

Who Can Help?
	Northern Grid and its team of experienced and knowledgeable staff can provide you with advice, guidance and practical help on all these issues. If your school already gets its broadband from Northern Grid these services are included in the price, if not there may be a charge for some services. If you’re reading this electronically, you can follow the “hot links” and access some of Northern Grid’s free resources. Our Service Guide provides more details of Northern Grid’s services. You can email us at admin@northerngrid.org Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Watch us on YouTube

Northern Grid for Learning is a Not for Profit Company.

All our assets are used solely to support our members. We are owned by 7 Local Authorities. Our mission is to provide cost effective broadband solutions, advice, guidance and bespoke support for schools.

Established in 1999 Northern Grid has extensive experience of working with the region’s schools. We have a unique and excellent national recognition for eLearning and eSafeguarding, provide best value, sharing best practice, providing resources, advice and support.

A pilot project / case study facilitated by Northern Grid for learning and Lush Places Media.

Northern Grid is always keen to promote and facilitate the use of cutting edge technology in its partner schools. Lights Camera Action is a unique and interactive TV workshop using a portable television studio with the latest 'virtual' computer generated set which gave the pupils and staff at Normanby Primary a rare opportunity to experience life in the high pressure world of broadcast news.

The pupils were engaged right from the beginning of the session and were keen to investigate how everything worked. The level of interest and skills shown by the pupils was of a very high standard. The structure of the day almost demanded this along with a mature approach to editing and producing to targets and deadlines.

The pupils at Normanby certainly stepped up to the mark during this intensive and challenging day.

This day-long course which can be customised to appeal to all learners really gave the pupils an insight into the decisions you have to take under pressure to ensure a programme gets 'on air' to deadline. During the day the groups of pupils showed how adapt they were at teamwork and decision-making skills whilst developing those leadership skills required in a scenario that required them to choose and reject user generated content in writing their scripts. As well developing the type of skills mentioned above the pupils also showed how to stay 'cool' in front of the camera by auditioning for the roles of news / programme presenter.

The day organised at Normanby included the use of visual and audio materials collected by the pupils using their own school equipment. Schools can however use video cameras provided by Lush Places Media to record their own material in advance of the workshop to ensure the final bulletin is very much theirs.

The Lights! Camera! Action! Day supported and enhanced the curriculum in an exciting way with the pupils encouraged to express themselves in discussion groups and feedback / decision making activities. During the day literacy / numeracy and communication skills were highly evident and the level of enthusiasm and professionalism shown was staggering. This was particularly evident as the deadline loomed for the final schedule and programme.

The session was led by award winning journalist, broadcaster and multimedia trainer Andrew Glover MA, Director of Lush Places Media and supported by Northern Grid for Learning.

Lights! Camera! Action! Video

More Images

Download this Case Study

Find out about the exciting work schools in the region are doing with technology

Northern Grid will be hosting its annual awards ceremony on June 23^rd with 27 schools being recognised for their excellent use of technology to support teaching and learning. 

The Northern Grid awards were established in 2004 to celebrate the success of schools in the region.  At the ceremony highly commended schools receive certificates and the winners get a prize donated by commercial sponsors.  

All the schools are given a stand to display their entry.  The standard is always impressive and the best part of the morning is getting to walk around the exhibition and listen to these bright, enthusiastic and articulate pupils talking about what they did.

One of our eSafety experts, Simon Finch, was interviewed whilst at Plymouth e-Learning Conference 2011 about several subjects within the areas of eSafety and eSecurity.

View the 4 videos below or go to our YouTube Channel. If you need guidance and resources in dealing with these areas visit the eSafety area of our website.

Leave some comments below or on the YouTube Channel with your feedback! Thanks!

eSecurity in Schools - New Teacher Behaviours

Internet can entangle both pupils and teachers

It is easy to find examples of pupils who have got into trouble when using the internet but the fact that the same applies to teachers is often overlooked.  This article in the Times Education Supplement Scotland on April 8th highlights some of the risks for pupils and staff when using online technologies.

The article quotes Simon Finch, an eLearning officer at Northern Grid and mentions one of the ways we can support schools: a workshop entitled “How to lose your job”.

There is more information about this workshop on the Northern Grid site and on Simon’s blog.

Details of other support we can provide is available in the safeguarding area and in the services guide

Northern Grid guarantees low prices and excellent service, help us make sure future offerings continue to meet your needs

Northern Grid has been providing broadband and services to schools and local authorities since 1999. By working closely with partners across the region we can ensure that our services are high quality, low cost and provide excellent value for money.

The current broadband contract, with Easynet, runs until 2012 and ensured that prices were fixed. This means that recent price rises were not passed on to schools.

We are procuring the new contract now and this will run from 2012 until 2015. Again prices will be fixed for the duration of the contract so schools will know what costs will be and be able to plan effectively.

As with the current contract Northern Grid wants to ensure that our services meet the needs of schools. A broadband connection isn’t enough, it needs to be safe, secure and reliable. Northern Grid provides a range of services including: filtering, firewalls, monitoring, reporting, learning support, online resources, Learning Platforms, examples of best practice, eSafety and eSecurity guidance and technical support.

Details of all of our services can be found at www.northerngrid.org/services

We want to make sure the services we provide continue to meet the needs of our users. The procurement will involve a consultation process and we will welcome the involvement of schools.

Contact Mel Philipson or Gerry Boynes for further information Tel: 0191 4611 844

This doesn’t mean that ICT is no longer important or that schools now have all the equipment and support they need. Northern Grid is in regular contact with schools across the North East and knows the value head teachers, teachers and pupils place on using technology to support teaching, learning and other school activity.

Keith Cotgrave, Head Teacher of Longfield School in Darlington said technology, and

"the broadband connection and services provided by Northern Grid for Learning are essential to the effective management of learning,”

and the government agrees.

In October 2010 Nick Gibb, Minister of State for Schools’ said that

“schools which make use of broadband connectivity are found to have improved academic results and increased learner motivation compared to those which do not make use of this technology.”

In the current economic climate schools will value good support more than ever as they look for ways of getting the most out of equipment they already have and best value for future purchases.

In his article 'ICT in a Supporting Role' in the TES Magazine on March 18th Jack Kenny outlines the options for schools.

He quotes Mel Philipson, Manager of Northern Grid for Learning talking about the role the regional grids can play:

“Their depth and breadth of experience are freely available to schools and colleges …If anyone needs assistance, and it is not available in their own area, using the network we can find people to provide it. Schools can get resources, advice on broadband and provision of wireless networks."

The full article is available on the TES website. For information about the services provided by Northern Grid see our service guide http://www.northerngrid.org/services

(Nick Gibb quote can be found at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm101004/text/101004w0002.htm)