Fusion21 has announced the contractors successfully appointed to its national Consultants framework, worth up to £90 million over a four year period.

A total of sixty six highly skilled firms – including several SMEs and multinational organisations – have secured a place on the framework following a rigorous selection process. 

Tailored to specific UK regions, the framework offers 10 lots and covers a range of construction related consultancy services including surveying, stock monitoring and appraisal, environmental, architectural, engineering, project management and multi disciplinary works.

IMPROVING quality is a critical step on the (seemingly endless) road to nirvana for school leaders, says Louise Doyle, director at quality assurance specialists Mesma, who considers how to produce an effective plan.

Like many things, preparation is critical when writing an improvement plan. It’s also important to remember to keep things simple, clear and precise to a deliver a successful roll out of your plan. If the printout is as thick as a doorstop, or you have a spreadsheet with so many columns you can’t see the beginning and end on one screen, the whole thing becomes a pain to oversee.

With the start of the new school year, BVS ECOtouch screens have launched their new wireless ready ETA series interactive touch screens. These screens are designed and developed in the UK with direct input from Head Teachers and Network Managers.

The ETA series of Interactive touch screens boast a built-in Android PC with integrated browser and whiteboard, with an optional OPC slot to bolt on a Windows OPS PC. All are available with SMART and/or OKTOPUS software. They come with fully integrated Wi-Fi, allowing for seamless, wireless connectivity of Apple and Android devices as well as Windows laptops. To top that, an industry leading 7 year warranty is standard for extra peace of mind. 

Digital Schoolhouse, the non-profit programme delivered by Ukie, the trade body for the UK’s games and interactive entertainment industry, hosted a panel debate with industry bodies and students in order to help tackle the digital skills gap. The panellists discussed the role that the technology and games industries could play in helping schools addressing the current shortage.
 

●     Computer programming has been included within the National Curriculum

●     An estimated £900m is spent on education technology by schools every year

●     Ebuyer.com has created a guide for parents on how to help your child learn to code

With schools spending an estimated £900m on education technology every year,[1] and computer programming featured in the National Curriculum, technology is now a fully fledged part of a child’s educational experience. But how can parents aid their child’s development at home?

Free ‘Food For Thought’ event will offer ideas and inspiration to boost pupil health and wellbeing

Primary school teachers from across the UK are being encouraged to join science, nutrition and health experts at a special event in London next month.

Hosted by Discovery Education and Alimentarium Academy on 17th October, Day of Discovery - Food For Thought will bring educators and specialists together for aday of dynamic workshops, experiments and seminars exploring healthy eating and body image in primary school age pupils.

Birmingham based Open Study College has been shortlisted in two categories of the finals of the prestigious Solihull Chamber of Commerce Awards.

Open Study College has been shortlisted in the ‘outstanding small business’ category and Samantha Rutter, Chief Operating Officer from Open Study College and Director of Wiggles & Giggles Day Nursery, has also been shortlisted for the Solihull Business Person of the year.  

Free online course explores the factors that support girls to reach their full potential

Social learning platform, FutureLearn, is today launching a free online course ‘Girls' Education: Teaching Strategies That Develop Confidence, Resilience and Collaboration’, in partnership with the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST).

When planning washroom facilities for school premises, there are various best practice design guides to point you in the right direction, such as how to choose the perfect urinals for your school or college. 

However, when it comes to swotting up on the rules and regulations that must be followed when installing amenities, it can be difficult to find the right information, with many people pointing out inconsistencies between varying versions of government guidelines.

Caledonian has been awarded a position as an approved supplier on the £50m Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) Framework to act as Lead Designer and Principal Contractor for the design and build of new schools, academies, and other educational facilities.

Caledonian and its Design partner HLM Architects will deliver innovative design led solutions that promote the intelligent use of Building Information Modelling (BIM), Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) and the use of Lean Manufacturing techniques to eliminate waste. This will enable entire school buildings to be manufactured off-site with only minimal works required onsite to install, connect and commission the buildings.

Wonde is a new integration service allowing app developers and schools to share information in a way that is secure, simple and fast. Having raised £1.6m in a seed round led by The Richmond Group, Wonde’s fully managed service ensures third party applications can securely access the school information they require after just one integration.

Wonde’s £1.6m seed round is the largest Seed investment round to be made by any graduate of Emerge Education, Europe’s largest EdTech Accelerator programme. This huge endorsement solidifies Wonde as a real disruption in the market, and puts the company on

course to completely transform how information is shared between schools and the EdTech industry.

NetSupport releases new version of its IT Asset Management solution  

NetSupport is pleased to announce the latest update to its award-winning IT Asset Management solution, NetSupport DNA: version 4.5 – Corporate and Education Editions.

With features designed to save schools and enterprises time and money whilst increasing productivity, ensuring reliability and adding security to their IT systems, the new release includes a whole host of new tools and added support, making it the ultimate monitoring and IT management solution on the market – backed by multiple awards including ‘Best of Show’ at ISTE 2017.  

Connect are delighted to announce they are working in association with the Institute for Education at Bath Spa University who will be using C-Live, our innovative teacher-training aid as part of their teacher training programmes from September onwards. 

Bath Spa is a teaching-led university, committed to promoting excellence which is one of many reasons why the Institute for Education is one of the highest rated providers of education training in the country. 

Great Ouse Primary Academy, in Biddenham, Bedford, is part of the high-performing Sharnbrook Academy Federation (SAF), and will open with pupils in a pre-school, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. It will become a two-class per year school from September 2018 as even more children join the popular primary. Great Ouse will act as a feeder to two other strong SAF schools, Lincroft Academy and Sharnbrook Academy.

Although it is a new school, it already boasts a strong track record - Great Ouse Primary Academy's Principal is Paul Ives, formerly the headteacher at Margaret Beaufort Middle School, which recorded the best results in the area for 11-year-olds in reading, writing and maths over the last six years.

Principal Paul Ives said: