Framework or fees: How to determine the best value for your school
By Ace Advice Purchasing decisions can be difficult, especially when you’re buying a service where no two suppliers are the same, like catering or cleaning. But do government-approved frameworks really make it easier? Frameworks allow a pre-selected group of organisations to bid for a contract, enabling them to complete a compliant procurement process in a […]
Self-managed vs outsourced catering: Which is right for your school?
By ACE Advice There are moments in any organisation’s life when additional resources, such as catering, are needed to successfully manage growth or performance. These resources underpin your organisational stability. But first, you must decide who’s going to deliver them: extra personnel, or a third party. The scale of your organisation, and its plans for […]
GAD highlights ‘decarbonising the school estate’ case study
Insurance specialists at the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) have highlighted how they worked with the government to support schools in England to reduce their carbon footprints. Background The Risk Protection Arrangement (RPA) is an alternative to insurance for schools and academies where losses that arise are covered by government funds. The Department for Education oversees […]
Ventilation Equilibrium: Balancing energy savings and indoor air quality in schools
Energy usage is often prioritised over indoor air quality, despite the potential benefits to wellbeing and learning. Alan Macklin and Ana Cross at Elta Group discuss how schools need to place both front of mind and implement quality-designed mechanical ventilation… The pandemic has certainly increased awareness around indoor air quality, with the high levels […]
DDoS becoming more complex, with schools at risk too
Distributed Denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks decreased slightly in 2021 but are becoming larger and more complex in nature, new analysis from F5 has found. Data collected from F5 Silverline – a cloud-based managed services platform detecting and mitigating DDoS attacks in real-time – showed a 3% year-on-year decline in the overall volume of attacks recorded in […]
Just 9% of UK schools classed as ‘digitally mature’
Just 9% of UK schools are classified as being digitally mature, while nearly one-third (31%) have put a few fundamentals in place necessary to embed digital technology within their school (low digital maturity). That’s according to a Department for Education (DfE) report ‘Exploring digital maturity in schools’, which highlights that the majority (60%) were somewhere in the […]
Digitally transforming the admissions process for secondary schools
By Amy Shaw, Press Officer at Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council As parents and guardians focus on securing their children’s desired school places, which can understandably be a stressful time; an influx of requests and questions follow. For Dudley Council’s Schools Admissions team, this is no different. While we want to answer every phone call and […]
UNICEF and Liquid Intelligent Technologies look to bridge Africa’s digital divide
UNICEF and Liquid Intelligent Technologies have partnered to support Giga’s work to connect every school in Africa to the Internet. Liquid will share anonymised data to support Giga’s work to map the location and connectivity status of schools in Africa. Liquid will also share information with Giga about schools’ proximity to telecoms infrastructure and will help […]
Funding top up for schools to help with coronavirus challenges
The Government is to make extra funding available for schools to cover the unique challenges and financial costs of the coronavirus outbreak. While teachers, pupils and parents would normally be beginning the Easter break, the coronavirus pandemic means that where possible, schools will continue to care for vulnerable children and those of critical workers. The […]
Government trumpets school places rise
96,000 new school places were created across England last year, taking the total number of new school places created since 2010 to 921,000 The new report, the government says, indicates it’s on track to create one million new school places this decade, despite acute concerns about funding at local levels. The new figures reverse a […]