Signing steel at Beverley and Tollesby Schools

We were excited to join Cllr Mike Carr, Willmott Dixon and the Senior Leadership team and students from Beverley and Tollesby Schools for their start of works ceremony. After a round of short speeches from all the partners involved in the project, is was time to don the hard hat and wellies to join the building team on-site!

To watch the students getting involved, signing the steel and looking at what will become their new school, was both exciting and momentous! It was a wonderful opportunity to see the progress already made and the shape of the schools to come.

Our local team have already met the staff of these two schools and we’re excited by the energy, commitment and vision of everyone in both schools and also by the enthusiasm they show in working with their students, even when this is challenging.

Throughout the rest of this year we will be engaging with the schools in greater detail, to agree what ICT each school wants and requires, and agree implementation plans for next year.

We’re looking forward to a positive and productive partnership and the results that will produce!

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ICT Progress report

Great progress is being made with Ormesby, Priory Wood and Acklam Grange schools as we’re nearing completion of the pre-implementation consultancy in good time to provide the new managed service in September.

Initial meetings are already taking place with those schools joining the managed service at a later date so that we can scope out their individual ICT requirements and prepare them for the implementation of the Learning Platform.

Finally, we are working on a comprehensive training programme to enable staff in the new schools to effectively use the new technology available to them.

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Every child is different, help every child succeed

Providing a learning experience that is right for every individual is a constant challenge. With a growing number of students who need additional or specialised learning support, this issue remains a high priority for schools.

Technology can transform the learner's experience by removing many of the barriers that otherwise exist for students with special educational needs. It can open up opportunities to enhance communication, engagement, accessibility, monitoring and the school environment.

RM can offer a whole range of solutions in each of these areas. Go to www.rm.com/sen

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RM Strategic Forums

A vision of future learning

We are delighted to announce that RM, in partnership with ASCL, has worked with Sir Ken Robinson and Richard Gerver to introduce an inspirational programme of Strategic Forums. Each Forum, open to Senior Leaders from schools and colleges across the country, will be facilitated by well known presenters such as Carrie and David Grant. The day's programme, enabling you to work alongside experienced leaders and question education experts, will assist you in being better prepared for the challenges of 21st Century Learning.

Book your place at www.rm.com/strategicforum

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Go green and save money with RM Utileyes

Being more ecological is about much more than being socially responsible……it can actually save your school a significant amount of money.

By monitoring the consumption rates on your utility meters and converting the collected data into a series of reports and graphs available online, you can reduce your carbon footprint and make savings at the same time.

- One secondary school used Utileyes to identify a water leak which once fixed, saved them £9,400 per year.

- Another school identified an error in boiler timing – the boiler was coming on at midnight every night. By fixing the timing on the boiler they reduced their impact on the environment and saved themselves £2,400 per year.

How does it work?

Probes are attached to the utility meters you want to keep an eye on and a data logger is fitted which collates and sends data to our data centre. You have access to all the data online data and a series of reports can be used to help you identify savings.

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Who is RM?

For over 35 years RM has been providing educational establishments with the very best ICT products and services, working closely with their customers to develop the kind of 21st century solutions that learners and teachers require.

The Building Schools for the Future programme has been designed to change the education landscape, creating establishments that both inspire and engage. ICT is an integral part of any new build or refurbishment project, with the potential to transform teaching and learning, but only when it’s applied with a real understanding of education. RM achieves this by working in partnership with those at the heart of education.

RM’s core strength is the ability to integrate technologies to deliver educational transformation in the classroom. They are experts in assessing the benefits that technology can bring to education, and work to raise standards, personalise learning and motivate and engage pupils.

Find out more about RM by clicking here.

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ICT for Middlesbrough schools

Through the Building Schools for the Future programme, Middlesbrough schools will benefit from innovative technology designed to inspire both teachers and learners.

The very latest technology will be provided for both teachers and learners, including the latest notebooks and PCs, as well as other appropriate personal devices, including educational PSPs that will work to engage and motivate. Combining this new technology with the latest software packages, such as Fuse Creator, the schools in Middlesbrough will enjoy first class ICT solutions.

Integrated software packages will encourage flexible learning and strengthen ties both inside the school and with the wider community. The Kaleidos Learning Platform will support schools at each stage of the teaching and learning cycle. Providing tools for planning and delivering lessons and assignments, schools will be able to share resources and best practice, whilst also engaging carers, parents and the wider community in learning.

A variety of whole-class teaching devices will work to motivate and engage learners, including visualisers, voting systems, projectors and interactive whiteboards. Each device will seamlessly integrate to offer superb interactive learning capabilities.

Smart technology will increase efficiency and some schools may opt for Cashless Catering, which removes the need for cash transactions, and Electronic Registration, which plugs into the school’s existing management information system, providing quick and easy identification of absences.

This is just a glimpse of the exciting new technology that will be used in Middlesbrough schools - all working to transform the learning experience for both teacher and learner.

Visit RM's website to find out more about RM’s role in providing technology for future education and how other schools are making the most of exciting solutions to support teaching and learning.

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REAL Centre

We have recentely opened a brand new facility at our head offices in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

Our REAL (Re-thinking Education And Learning) Centre is a purpose built space to:

· Promote discussion and debate about how technology and furniture can support learning
· Enable teachers, students and product developers to experiment with new ideas in teaching and learning
· Demonstrate the range of products available from the RM Group.

It is already proving very popular with a range of visitors including groups of students, international visitors, local authorities and teachers.

We are looking forward to welcoming staff from some of the Middlesbrough schools during September and hope that everyone will get a chance to visit in the future.

Find out more about RM’s REAL centre at:

www.rm.com/realcentre

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What is a learning platform?

It was ‘snow problem’ when the recent weather meant schools had to close - students logged onto their school's Kaleidos Learning Platform from home and engaged in learning activities, shared stories of gigantic snowmen and managed to download their homework. A true example of anytime, anywhere, any weather learning! Find out more at http://www.rm.com/snow

Kaleidos Learning Platform provides sophisticated communication and collaboration tools, engages parents and carers in learning and can help schools to:

* Empower and engage students
* Save time for teachers and students
* Encourage collaborative working
* Inform planning, teaching and assessment
* Share resources not only within school but also with other schools

To find out more about what Kaleidos Learning Platform will mean for teachers and learners in Middlesbrough visit www.learningplatform.rm.com

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RM Tour Bus

We are really excited that the RM Tour Bus will be stopping in Middlesbrough on Wednesday 13th May bringing the latest technology from RM to your doorstep! To book a place on the Tour Bus, contact the BSF team. We hope to be seeing many of you from 3:30pm on the same day for the RM launch event being organised by Middlesbrough Council.

See on board the bus:
* Our very latest networking solution
* Kaleidos Learning Platform demonstrations
* ED-E the programmable dancing robot
* The latest in mobile devices
* A whole range of exciting software

To find out more about the RM Tour Bus visit www.rm.com/bus

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What is Fuse Creator?

Digital content can really motivate students but it’s not always easy to find engaging content to meet your specific lesson objectives. Fuse Creator enables the creation of high-quality, interactive activities for your students without the need for a degree in computer programming! Create content that can be used on interactive whiteboards, personal computers, websites and within your virtual learning environment quickly and easily. Fuse is just one of the exciting products available to schools in Middlesbrough.

We are looking forward to telling you more about the Managed Service from RM and will demonstrate use of content such as Fuse Creator at the Middlesbrough Council-RM partnership launch on 13th May register for the event by contacting the BSF Team. In the meantime to find out more about Fuse Creator visit www.rm.com/fuse

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Create together with Honeycomb

Put fun into the curriculum and engage pupils with creative ICT. Honeycomb is a web page creation tool allowing pupils to work online to present their work in a collaborative and safe environment.

Pupils can work together to create their own online space; building their web page with a wide range of widgets from audio podcasts to videos, pictures and text.

Blogs and wikis enhance the way pupils work together and provide a facility for constructive feedback in a controlled environment enhancing the pupils’ awareness of their audience.

Teachers stay in control by determining the level of publishing rights their pupils have. Their web page can be published online to just their class, the whole school or beyond!

“It’s exciting, it’s interesting, they’re getting to collaborate.... I can’t think of any negatives. They’re all desperate to use it!”
Caroline Tribe, Teacher, Milverton Primary School

The ability to work online with a secure log-in allows pupils to work from home enhancing the connection between home and school and engaging parents in their children’s learning process.

Honeycomb is just one of the exciting software products being provided by RM as part of Middlesbrough BSF project. It allows pupils to learn valuable new ICT skills in the context of curriculum led project work and injects a sense of fun into learning!

To find out more please visit www.rm.com

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Smart technology

The BSF schools will have the opportunity to use the same piece of technology to register students, control access to buildings and buy lunches. This technology is provided by RM as part of the ICT Managed Service.

EasyTrace provides a suite of fully integrated card and biometric solutions, designed to help education establishments meet sector guidelines, demonstrate best practice and improve management efficiencies.

All EasyTrace solutions connect to a central database which links everything together creating a seamlessly integrated system to control anything from payment of school dinners and borrowing a library book to e-registration and access to a school building.

For students, it couldn’t be easier – just one card will give them all the rights, quotas and credit they need to go about their school day quickly and easily.

Schools have the freedom to choose the modules, which are important to them with the option to build on this solution in the future, making EasyTrace a practical, flexible and affordable system for any school.

The range of EasyTrace modules includes:·

• Cashless catering
• Photocopier and print control
• Access control
• E-registration 
• Electronic lockers
• E-payment systems
• Library systems

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RM at BETT

BETT is the world’s largest educational technology show, attracting around 30,000 people every year and despite the snow it was as busy as usual this year!

RM’s presence at BETT has grown over recent years to include the innovative Learning Spaces showcase in Olympia 2. The Learning Spaces put ICT in context, combining technology, furniture and services together to provide a truly inspirational area, which was used by teachers, students and our educational team to prove how ICT can transform the learning experience.

So, what’s new?

Within the Learning Spaces RM showcased a wide range of solutions to help schools adopt a more flexible approach to learning including:

1. Ver-Table – Whether horizontal or vertical, as a dry wipe board or projection screen or simply a space divider, the Ver-Table has to be one of the most versatile workgroup tables around.

2. Digital Graffiti Wall - an interactive, fun and inventive drawing tool where students can create digital graffiti on a large wall using a modified spray paint can.

3. Outdoor Music – revolutionise your school playground with outdoor musical instruments.

4. RM One Touch - a responsive touchscreen all-in-one PC designed specifically for the needs of education.

5. Lego Education Centre – a dedicated cross-curriculum learning space designed to help students get to grips with control technology - using teaching materials and software to control models.

6. Interactive Projection – with SEN applications, the interactive projector gets children to interact with what they see and hear.

7. My Tobii - is a portable eye controlled communication device. It allows you to interact through printed words, symbols or voice output by just looking.

To see what the students thought of our Learning Spaces, take a look at the pictures on our website: www.rm.com/bett

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RM - Web Conferencing

Middlesbrough BSF schools will be able to take advantage of web conferencing facilities delivered through the Kaleidos Learning Platform.

• Teach anywhere at anytime with online lessons delivered to students in multiple locations
• Increase collaboration between students in different rooms, classes, years, schools or countries
• Invite guest speakers to participate via video conference
• Communicate with your students using text based chat, voice (VOIP) or video conferencing
• Stream live video, audio and interactive content through your virtual classroom
• Share the contents of your screen with your students
  

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Find out your Perfect Match with Head2Head

The match-make me service is operated within our exclusive online forum and resource centre, Head2Head, bringing together the brightest minds in academia to engage in discussion and debate about the
issues facing schools.

Head2Head is an exclusive and
independent service that we’ve developed based on our knowledge and understanding of the needs of the education sector.

Our unique match-make me service puts together leaders in schools
facing similar challenges . It’s a chance to talk frankly and openly about concerns as well as share ideas, opportunities and experiences that will help solve problems and highlight successes.

For more information and to register with Head2Head please visit:
www.rm.com/head2head

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