dezt Posted December 20, 2010 Posted December 20, 2010 Just found this article on the Lancashire Telegraph website about how schools in Blackburn and Bolton have not been able to access ICT services for a few months, in one case since September. Looks like Northgate have got a question to answer when they are asked why this has happened and what is happening to the £41.3 million that they got for the ICT contract. Full article here Blackburn with Darwen schools hit by IT problems
GeneralDreedle Posted December 21, 2010 Posted December 21, 2010 Wow! BSF thread and everyone's looking but nobody's talking. What are the chances of that?
Dos_Box Posted December 21, 2010 Posted December 21, 2010 Let's not even mention what happened in Burnley either eh?
GeneralDreedle Posted December 21, 2010 Posted December 21, 2010 Burnley... I was there man. It was like 'Nam... lost a lot of good people... 2
drevil Posted January 8, 2011 Posted January 8, 2011 It looks like Blackburn is having a similar experience to Leicester.
featured_spectre Posted January 8, 2011 Posted January 8, 2011 next in line to get screwed is luton, millions piled in and a lot of schools lost out! Most have had IT ripped out and half replaced, I even know of 1 school that resorted to donations of equipment from parents to get some form of ICT going!
Butuz Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 Burnley... I was there man. It was like 'Nam... lost a lot of good people... What??? Birmingnam has been hit by ICT problems???? butuz
drevil Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 What??? Birmingnam has been hit by ICT problems???? butuz No - he means N(ottingh)am - silly boy!
m25man Posted January 13, 2011 Posted January 13, 2011 Did anyone visit the Northgate Stand @ BETT? It was banged out with Nortgate staff yesterday (Weds) but I made a point of checking them out several times during the day and it never changed.... Looked like leper colony 1
localzuk Posted January 13, 2011 Posted January 13, 2011 Just found this article on the Lancashire Telegraph website about how schools in Blackburn and Bolton have not been able to access ICT services for a few months, in one case since September. Looks like Northgate have got a question to answer when they are asked why this has happened and what is happening to the £41.3 million that they got for the ICT contract. Full article here Blackburn with Darwen schools hit by IT problems The comments in that article are shockingly bad. Thinking that £1.7m per school for full ICT provision is a lot. We're spending £10k just to wire up a new reception and 3 classrooms here. Not including the equipment! I wonder if people will ever realise that a school network is not simply made up of cheap computers and that's all.
Guest salan Posted January 13, 2011 Posted January 13, 2011 I have just pointed this out to my boss! I get ashamed when I have to take any part of our system down for updates! How can the schools manage? Alan
broc Posted January 13, 2011 Posted January 13, 2011 (edited) The comments in that article are shockingly bad. Thinking that £1.7m per school for full ICT provision is a lot. We're spending £10k just to wire up a new reception and 3 classrooms here. Not including the equipment! I wonder if people will ever realise that a school network is not simply made up of cheap computers and that's all. There is an awful lot of money 'top-sliced' from the BSF ICT funding, I believe at my wife's school they lost around 35%. Another trick is to spend some capital on 5-year warranties for equipment, which of course does not cover damage or wear & tear.... plus ICT funding is used for copiers, projectors, IWB, internal CCTV, cashless catering.... migration of data, packaging software applications etc etc Edited January 13, 2011 by broc
psydii Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Broc, ICT Managed services cover all aspects of ICT Services, not just educational technology. Can't comment about top slicing though, and not even sure what is meant by that in this context. In case that sounded overly pro BSF style Managed Services: I actually avoided the edugeek stand at BETT this year because I didn't want to experience the effect talking about BSF has on my inner calm.
broc Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 (edited) What I mean by top slicing..... The BSF program gave each LA £1450 per student to be spent on ICT..... but the school gets to see < £1000 per student spent on equipment such as LAN/WAN, Servers, PCs, laptops, projectors, PA systems, internal CCTV, telephony, cashless catering,software licences, warranties & installation fees etc. The rest (top slice) is spent by the LA on consultancy fees, legal fees, design costs, LA costs, LEP fees, BSF project team costs & expenses etc. Basically not all the BSF ICT funding finds its way into the school. This is not intended as a criticism of any LA nor the amount of money that is spent; there are overheads associated with the LA purchasing a managed service solution for its schools and they have to be paid for but these costs do come out of school BSF ICT funding. The same goes for building costs. Edited January 18, 2011 by broc
psydii Posted January 19, 2011 Posted January 19, 2011 In that case our experiences differ. The governors at my last place would never have taken that lying down. The ICT spend was ring-fenced, not sure whether that was the LA/Consultants/P4S or Governor influence that won us that.
broc Posted January 19, 2011 Posted January 19, 2011 I know personally of four schools in two separate LAs where funding was top sliced, so I would imagine it would be true for other schools in the same BSF wave in those LAs. There is nothing sinister, illegal or immoral in this, the LA must choose if it is to use its grant funding from central government (and local council taxpayers) to pay for these sort of services, or use money from central government provided by the BSF program. I suppose a wealthy LA could use reserves to cover these costs & pass on all of the ICT funding to schools, but this did not happen at the schools I know of. I was Chair of Governors at one of these schools so I had every opportunity to see the 'numbers'. As Governors, we were given a stark choice, accept BSF ICT funding and have a managed service, or do without the managed service and say goodbye to the money. The Head Teacher & I discussed the choice at length, in the end we decided we could not turn down the investment, we owed it to the children and staff at the school to provide the best resources we could.
gaz350 Posted January 19, 2011 Posted January 19, 2011 Even if you are not taking on a managed service, the it budget pays for Professional fees. From That man who comes and sticks a box on the desk to the it suppliers project managers time and any failed deliveries. Thankfully any delays to IT rollout due to construction delays are reclaimed from the building contractors. It really is amazing to see how fast costs can rise.
quietriot1983 Posted January 31, 2011 Posted January 31, 2011 Heard via my HT that several 'Phase 1' schools that joined the RM Managed service in September are having trouble too. One claims not to have had any emails or internet access for the past 3 months.
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