dknight001

This thread has taken a bit of a weird turn - my initial question was simply do the schools have to use Gateway by law as this was what the person on the training course had said and it didn't ring true. Gateway may well be the best system for schools to use (if there is a legal requirement for them to have such a system or if they want to have such a system) but recent conversations with Ofsted and the DFE seem to suggest that no such system is required and that the learning platform environment fulfills all legal obligations by the schools - and even this isn't a 'legal' requirement as such, but is to improve ratings by Ofsted (and to fulfil parental engagement criteria). My school is perfectly happy with the way in which they report to parents at the moment...have I been misinformed? Is there a legal requirement to provide further information in a vehicle other than the learning platform or current systems? And if so, what is it that they are required to provide by law?

£500 does sound cheap, but if schools don't need to spend this money at all then it's actually £500 wasted - for a small school that's a lot of money which could otherwise be spent on the pupils. I do understand that the council have spent a lot of time and money on setting up this system based on a requirement to give parents access to specific school information, but this requirement is no longer a mandate (I have spoken to the DFE). Surely East Sussex County Council have a duty to inform schools of this fact so that they can make an informed decision about whether or not to take on a project which will require a complete shift in processes for the school and in small schools this may mean having to get someone in to maintain it, costing extra money. I appreciate that County don't want to lose out on their investment, but surely the schools shouldn't be taking on a system just to ensure the 'success' of a project? After all its not the schools fault that the government changed the goal posts.

This has been an eye opening forum for me. I though the CC was hear to help the schools but it turns out they are trying to fleece them. I have been on the phone to the DFE and will post back after they have confirmed everything I need to know. Thanks for the info.

Can you point me to somewhere I can check this is the case. Thanks

As far as I am aware their are other web cms systems that can display the data required from Sims for parents to view. think moodle does this. The school would always be using Sims.

I was on a free Sims Gateway course a few weeks back put on by East Sussex County Council and was told that ESCC had spent lots of money on training etc for this software and as such we as East Sussex Schools have to use it. It was actually put in such a way that we would be in breach of some law or the other if we didn't use this system. Is this correct?