10 Mar 2010 | Last updated Tuesday 9 March 2010 at 10:32 | Subscribe to our feed

Building schools for the future

LEAs face a plethora of initiatives – some education-specific, such as Building Schools for the Future (BSF), and other broader initiatives such the Children’s Agenda driving joined up delivery between agencies, Gershon and the growing impact of legislation such as the Freedom of Information Act.

Much of the change is expected to be ‘transformational’. Demands for online schools admissions for example, requiring LEAs to have a clear vision and strategy. There is often an assumption, in BSF in particular, that managed services will be used. Schools, meanwhile, are expecting ever-increasing autonomy, which potentially militates against data integration and economies of scale. Changes at the ‘chalk face’ pose other challenges. New methods of delivering curriculum and managing learning place huge demands on infrastructure; even ‘overspecified’ networks may rapidly run short of bandwidth.

If PFI partnerships are used to fund infrastructure, the time lags involved can be such that the capacity can be outgrown even before it goes live. Socitm Consulting can help with:

  • Developing ICT strategies
  • Specifying user requirements for education in ICT
  • Procurement support including bid appraisal
  • Recruitment of technical specialists and interim managers
  • Partnership development
  • Interfacing between design and build FM and PFI and ICT
  • Fostering joint working between schools and other services for children
  • Supplier management, performance monitoring and benchmarking performance management.
  • Developing energy efficient buildings and ICT operations that automatically power down systems that are not in use

Examples of recent projects include:

Proj No
Description
Date
7251 
Cambridgeshire Schools WAN requirements
Cambridgeshire County Council
14/07/2009
5754X01 
BSF ICT Procurement
Kingston upon Hull City Council
21/04/2009
7149 
DfES submission for BSF
Lancashire County
Council
14/04/2009
6096X02 
Extension to Barnsley BSF project
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council
26/03/2009
6666X01 
The Litherland High 1 School BSF Pathfinder Project
Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council
16/03/2009
7114 
BSF Support
Leicester City
Council
13/03/2009
6707x02 
BSF programme manager
Tower Hamlets London Borough
22/01/2009
4888X01 
Building Schools of the Future - AV Investigation
Waltham Forest London Borough
08/12/2008
6941 
BSF ICT Consultant
Portsmouth City
Council
05/12/2008
6707x01 
Corporate change programme and BSF advice
Tower
Hamlets London Borough
18/11/2008
6096X01 
Extension to Barnsley BSF project
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council
20/08/2008
6666 
The Litherland High 1 School BSF Pathfinder Project
Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council
02/07/2008
6506 
Performance benchmarking - 2008 LEA /School Benchmarking
Benchmarking - LEA Study Group
01/07/2008
6693 
Wave 4 SFC Part 2
Manchester City Council
19/06/2008
6707 
Corporate change programme and BSF advice
Tower
Hamlets London Borough
22/05/2008
6515 
BSF ICT Consultancy Services
Cambridgeshire County
Council
11/03/2008
6542 
Support for BSF project and review of EDRMS
Tower
Hamlets London Borough
28/02/2008
6391 
Children's Services Project Manager (misc projects)
Tower Hamlets London Borough
08/11/2007
6371 
Future of Education ICT Service
Cambridgeshire County
Council
04/11/2007
6314 
BSF ICT Consultancy
Telford & Wrekin Council
06/09/2007
6238 
BSF Strategy for change
Cambridgeshire County Council
12/07/2007
6089 
BSF Support at Staffordshire
Clarus
16/04/2007
6080 
Strategic advice on BSF
Galliford Try Investments
12/04/2007
6096 
Barnsley BSF
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council
05/04/2007
6059 
EduAction
Waltham Forest London Borough
23/02/2007
5997 
BSF workshop
Enterprise Ireland
18/12/2006
5970 
Children's and Library management system
Tower Hamlets London Borough
18/12/2006
5959 
Education & Lifelong learning ICT Strategy
Leicester City
Council
29/11/2006
5940 
BSF readiness support
Blackpool Borough Council
08/11/2006
5909 
Project Manager
Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council
07/11/2006
5917 
Procurement support
Croydon London Borough
30/10/2006
5860 
Feasibility study for Central Children and Young People's Database
Kensington & Chelsea Royal Borough
02/10/2006
5851 
Advice re BSF bid at Hackney LB
Wates Co
02/10/2006
5868 
BSF ICT consultancy support
Middlesbrough Borough Council
30/09/2006
5826 
Schools ICT services review
Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council
17/08/2006
5761 
BSF ICT Consultancy
Steljes Markets Ltd
28/06/2006
5759 
BSF ICT Consultancy
Equion Ltd
27/06/2006
5786 
BSF ICT risk management assistance
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
23/06/2006
5754 
BSF ICT Procurement
Kingston upon Hull City Council
23/06/2006
5763 
BSF ICT Advisory Services
South Tyneside Met. Borough Council
25/05/2006
5709 
BSFS ICT Consultancy
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council
10/02/2006
5684 
BSF ICT Consultancy
Luton Borough Council
07/02/2006
5613 
Pupil data integration
Sutton London Borough
01/12/2005
5515 
Consultancy Framework Agreement for ICT in Education
BECTA
18/11/2005
5498 
BSF ICT procurement and D&B input
Manchester City Council
30/09/2005
5510 
BSF bidding advice & guidance workshop
Serco Ltd
21/09/2005
5435 
Building Schools for the Future Programme Support
South Tyneside Met. Borough Council
08/07/2005
5297 
Building Schools for the Future ICT Consultancy
Stoke on Trent City Council
11/06/2005
5166 
Building Schools for the Future Visioning and ICT services procurement
Greenwich London Borough
10/05/2005
5204 
Building schools for the Future programme support
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council
15/03/2005
5159 
BSF ICT Consultancy
Sutton London Borough
20/02/2005
5124 
Grouped PFI Schools PM of ICT
Waltham Forest London Borough
24/01/2005