Extra staffing

The curriculum-costing exercise of Dec 2003- Jan 2004 will result in the need for extra staffing.

This will increased further with the full implementation of ‘core’ GCSE ICT in September 2005 when all key stage 4 pupils will be studying ICT.

Extra rooming 1

To accommodate the increased number of taught ICT period at key stage 4, there will be a need for at least one completely new ICT room.

Will this use laptops and wireless technology?
Which room will be used?
Will this be part of the new build, and if so, will the ICT department have a clear say in its design?
Is it possible for the new build to include three new ICT rooms, so that the two small ICT rooms can be used as classrooms?

[See aspirational snaps from Brislington City Learning Centre.]

We might need to be imaginative about ICT rooming in the year 2004-2005.

Extra rooming 2

ICT5 needs to be brought up to full standard as an ICT teaching room.

Curricular time 1

Key Stage Three

Key Stage Three lessons need to be increased from two to three lessons per fortnight (or equivalent) from September 2005.

Two lessons a fortnight provide too little time for an important subject which should feed into all curricular areas.

There is a lack of continuity in three lessons a fortnight which is detrimental to progress.

Curricular time 2

Key Stage Four

From September 2005, all Key Stage Four pupils need to receive an equal allowance of five lessons per fortnight.

At January 2004, the existing RM network is straining to cope with the demands being made upon it.

H Jennings recommends transferring to a Ranger system. C Hislam recommends the facilities provided in the Ranger system, which provides the teacher with much more control over the pupils.

Ranger is itself a secure company with many schools using the system; more are joining up, including local schools. The system is sold through a number of franchises.

Without moving, we will get unstuck as we try to add new computers. What's more, with Ranger we can stagger our move to Windows XP, as it will run with any Windows system.

We need to upgrade our servers to handle the increased demand (whether we change to Ranger or not).

This changeover would require the summer holidays to manage.

We are planning to use the 2004 NGfL money to fund this changeover.

Annual cost for Ranger would be £3,000 (including software, maintenance and so on); this is significantly lower than the RM price and provides a more versatile update.

There is an initial cost for the introduction of Ranger; this itself is less than the RM cost. We would manage the provision of licences carefully to provide the right licences for each area.

The cost of renewing the servers would be in the order of £5,000.

We have already spent £11,000 on a brand new server which will significantly support the software used in school. This is in connexion with the LSC on-line GCSE maths package.

In February 2004, H Jennings was asked to prepare a detailed costings, which where appropriate overestimates the cost, so that no hidden costs appear after our commitment.

Some computer terminals in the school require upgrading. Two rooms are overdue for replacement: S7 and IT4.

The estimated cost for the all-in-one units which cost approximately £712 each. 80 of such machines would cost £57,000 (including the new maths room). IT5 requires advanced machines to support A-level requirements.

(In practice M1 would get the 15 new machines for S7 and move those computers in M1 to S7.)

We will draw up an ongoing maintenance programme so that computers are upgraded and maintained.

Provision of laptops

Currently N% of full-time teaching staff have a laptop provided by the school and M% have a laptop of their own.

By the end of the calendar year 2004, our target is for 90% of all full-time staff to have a laptop for use in their teaching.

By the end of the calendar year 2005, we want all full-time teaching staff to have a laptop for use in their teaching.

We need to maintain the stock of laptops, which will include monitoring battery-use, software and so on.

Provision of data projectors and interactive whiteboards

1. Wiring rooms

At the end of 2003, N rooms have fully wired installations, and by the end of January 2004, this will increase to M.

During the calendar year 2004, all heads of department will be consulted about their requirements for 'wired-in' projector cradles and all their demands will be met in this respect by the end of the year.

2. Provision of data projectors

Currently the school has N projectors, all but three of which are allocated to departments. These three are in the hall, the theatre and the main library; the main library one is available for loan.

During the calendar year 2004, all heads of department will be consulted about their requirements for data projectors. A priority list will be drawn up after consultation, and published, reflecting needs, use and budgetary constraints.

3. Provision of inter-active white boards.

Our target for 2004 is firstly to increase the number of data projectors available (without which, of course, inter-active white boards cannot function).

During this year, the use of the boards - used by the maths, the ICT and the science departments - will be monitored.