Are you paying too much for your broadband connection?

In recent years most primary schools have taken broadband services from their local authority, but with many services being withdrawn or increasing in price this year, the time has come to review whether your school is getting best-value from your connection to the internet.

There's no question that the web is an essential teaching resource and demand will only increase as time goes by. For this reason it's important that schools pay for a good-quality broadband connection that can deliver a fast, reliable service. But speed isn't everything. Primary schools in particular need to be mindful of e-safety and therefore a strong filtering policy is a must. For these reasons, the types of cheap deal that home users can access are not appropriate for schools.

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Inspyro produces innovative, creative and exciting primary school projects. These are designed to engage your pupils through a cross-curricular enquiry based approach. In each project pupils are tasked with problems to solve and challenges to meet. Inspyro provides detailed planning and assessment guidance matched closely to the national curriculum, encouraging both collaborative and individual learning.

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Antivirus software is not usually the first thing that springs to mind when considering the allocation of your ICT budget. After all, most LEA's provide an antivirus product extremely cheaply or even free-of-charge, why spend money you don't need to? Well, those of you who have experienced a widespread and damaging virus, malware or spyware outbreak in your school will be able to testify that not all antivirus products are created equal and not all LEA provided solutions are provided because they are the best and most effective on the market.

At Computeam we believe that the right wireless network can unlock the potential benefits of mobile and personalised learning across your school.

Unfortunately, in the past, not all wireless networks have delivered the fast and stable user experience that education demands.

For many years, pupils have had access to laptops, netbooks and more recently, tablets like the iPad. These devices offer a more flexible way of teaching with ICT and can be incorporated into any lesson, underpinning a cross-curricular approach. Furthermore, they can be transported around the school giving pupils (and teachers) the ability to roam and complete their work in an environment suitable for the given task.

I Am Learning

There are many ways of engaging young people in their learning using ICT, but few are as simple and effective as I Am Learning - a games based online revision system for schools. With annual whole site licence models for primary and secondary, it's also one of the most cost effective! At a basic level, I Am Learning offer simple flash-based games, (similar to those found on sites like Mousebreaker.com - perhaps one of the most banned websites on school URL filter lists!) in return for completing quizzes and tests on various curriculum subjects. Unusually it offers rewards for both achievement and effort, helping to engage equally across the ability spectrum. But there is much more to this on-line system; from reports and surveys, to learning style analyses and on-line competitive leagues. The best way to explore it for your self is to request a free demo from Computeam or take a look around the I Am Learning website - www.iamlearning.co.uk

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