BSF and RM

[witch]

Without going into too many details, I am really in need of some information on any schools that have been BSF'd and the contract was awarded to RM.

Specifically:

What happened to the techies?

What happened to the equipment?

What happened to the support?

 

Anything useful gratefully received. Please no ranting - I know this is an emotive subject but at the moment I really need FACTS

thanks a lot

[broc]

Sunderland are rolling out an RM managed ICT service right now to a number of schools & academies. I don't have first hand facts (only hearsay) so I will not comment further. If you know someone working in a wave 1 school in Sunderland you may get more information.....

[bossman]

@witch:

 

Sunderland are indeed rolling out the BSF via RM but according to one of my sources (HP I think hehe!) the second wave has not been signed up to (HT's refuse to sign up) because of the disasterous events happening in the first wave. The academy 360 which was the pride of the Sunderland LA has been slated by the staff and especially the principle for it's IT managed service.

 

 

P.S

RM will take you on as part of the TUPE process and you should get favourable terms from them and obviously ramain as part of their team, you may however be asked to deliver services elswhere in the County as part of your contract.

[witch]

Thanks Bossman - I know what is supposed to happen but I REALLY need some info from someone to whom it has actually happened, to get an overall picture as it were.

So - anyone??

[Pottsey]

A few techs that ended up in BSF who talked before got asked not to post anymore once they got into BSF. I don’t think you will find anyone in BSF willing to talk as least not publicly. Your best bet is to ring around some schools or send some PM’s.

[cookie_monster]

A few techs that ended up in BSF who talked before got asked not to post anymore once they got into BSF. I don’t think you will find anyone in BSF willing to talk as least not publicly. Your best bet is to ring around some schools or send some PM’s.

 

Yes I remember that. You have to wonder why they don't want anyone to talk about what happenes.

[siuko]

Remember the first rule of BSFclub is we dont talk about BSFclub.... well thats how it feels

[Ric_]

Thanks Bossman - I know what is supposed to happen but I REALLY need some info from someone to whom it has actually happened, to get an overall picture as it were.

So - anyone??

 

@witch: It is also worth bearing in mind that every BSF contract is different and can have totally different terms in it for the TUPE of staff. It all kind of depends upon who has written the statement of requirements and how that has been interpretted during the tender process.

[witch]

Hmmm - very interesting. thanks for that

[DrCheese]

you may however be asked to deliver services elswhere in the County as part of your contract

Is that even allowed? I didn't think they were allowed to change the terms of your contract in that way

[bossman]

@DrCheese :

 

Ohh yes as you work for whoever you are TUPEd to and you will receive a new contract although your terms of employment stay the same they will also put in extra clauses. Also you have protected pay for 2 years but they can also invoke a TUPE clause which states that if after 6 weeks you are surplus to requirements they can then give you 90 days notice of redundancy.

[Jiser]

I didn't know up there BSF was happening? I thought it was just the bad schools around Poole and Bournemouth - well for this wave anyway .

[broc]

I didn't know up there BSF was happening? I thought it was just the bad schools around Poole and Bournemouth - well for this wave anyway .

BSF is happening all over the North East;

 

Newcastle

Gateshead & South Tyneside

Sunderland

County Durham

Teeside

 

Most of these LAs have schools in waves 1-3 BSF, with other schools in later waves....

 

Apologies if I missed anyone

[witch]

I didn't know up there BSF was happening? I thought it was just the bad schools around Poole and Bournemouth - well for this wave anyway .

 

 

We were originally in wave 6 in Poole and Bournemouth, Jiser - it is a whole authority thing - they hope to help the schools that really need it first, but all secondary schools will be involved. (and by extension, all other schools too, as far as I can see)

 

What is upsetting us is that it seems to have got as far as it has without any consultation with the IT teams. We aren't necessarily trying to derail it completely, after all, some schools really need the help and will be better for it, but we are trying to draw various issues to the attention of the LA before things go any further. How you can decide what is best for the IT in the school when no one in IT has been asked or told to provide info is beyond me

[broc]

We were originally in wave 6 in Poole and Bournemouth, Jiser - it is a whole authority thing - they hope to help the schools that really need it first, but all secondary schools will be involved. (and by extension, all other schools too, as far as I can see)

 

What is upsetting us is that it seems to have got as far as it has without any consultation with the IT teams. We aren't necessarily trying to derail it completely, after all, some schools really need the help and will be better for it, but we are trying to draw various issues to the attention of the LA before things go any further. How you can decide what is best for the IT in the school when no one in IT has been asked or told to provide info is beyond me

Sadly, your experience seems to match that of others who have trod a similar path before you

 

There is no simple answer, and if you ask too many difficult questions & flag up too many issues you may be sidelined from further debate. The BSF mantra seems to be "You will get the ICT solution the LEP wants to deliver, not what the schools need......"

[witch]

Sadly, your experience seems to match that of others who have trod a similar path before you

 

There is no simple answer, and if you ask too many difficult questions & flag up too many issues you may be sidelined from further debate. The BSF mantra seems to be "You will get the ICT solution the LEP wants to deliver, not what the schools need......"

 

Yes, I know and that is the whole problem really.

[TheCrust]

@Witch - I can identify with that sentiment. My predecessor here spent some time with the LA's BSF steering group.

 

Although I think we all appreciate the fact that BSF will help a lot of schools badly in need of better facilities, the way some LA's are going about implementing it beggars belief. One size does not fit all, and they do know that. Regional demographics alone mean some schools need more support in areas that others don't.

 

My predecessor tried to get involved with the pre-consultation process and get some real-world common sense into the mix. He went to the meetings along with our previous head but both were very dismayed by what they saw and their involvement with the process didn't last very long. They both came away with the distinct impression that the consultation exercise was just that - an exercise to say it had been done - as all suggestions made by school staff on the panel were pretty well blanked.

 

I'm digressing from your topic on RM, but I thought I'd let you know I share your sentiments about schools not being invited into the process at an early stage.

[richardp]

Not too involved with BSF directly here but it really comes down to the specification document as far as the school is concerned. If they don't get everything included in that document that they need it will not be part of the contract and therefore require payment.

 

Ultimately it won't be the NMs or Techs problem as they will either have been TUPEd and will therefore be an employee of the support company and not the school and will have to stick to the contract that they may or may not have had input into. Or for whatever reason they will not be working at the school at all. It seems to me that there may be a tendancy to treat the advice coming from NMs and Techs (if it is sought) as an attempt by them to "save" their jobs, when in a lot of cases they may end up with better pay and conditions and dare I say it maybe a bit less work to do ?

 

Richard

[Jiser]

Join RM and you will get a much better deal on everything if your single and can move about that is. All you gotta do is look on their career section.

 

Don't think it will be enforced witch in the other schools which they haven't mentioned for a while longer yet. Once they finished with the rubbish schools they will move on to everyone else. But be time that happens BSF will be cancelled - no doubt.

[Oops_my_bad]

There are tonnes of threads on this subject - try using the search button.

[bonjour]

*removed - thought better of posting that info. here.* Edited October 21, 2009 by bonjour