The London Borough of Greenwich, a pathfinder authority for the government's Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, has appointed Socitm Consulting to help develop its vision for future ICT services in schools and to provide an output specification for ICT service delivery to the five schools in its BSF pathfinder project.

Greenwich is preparing its schools to use ICT in line with what the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), the sponsor of the BSF programme, anticipates will be a transformational change to educational delivery. A key element of the project is to consider ICT within the broader context of the Greenwich BSF programme and community strategy.

The Building Schools for the Future programme, publicly launched in February 2004, is a government initiative that aims to promote a step change in the quality of educational provision. It brings together significant investment in buildings and ICT with significant educational reform. Worth £2.2 billion in its first year, and with a further £3 billion spend committed for 2005-6, BSF will ensure secondary pupils in every part of England learn in 21st-century facilities, and is expected to take 10-15 years to complete, subject to future public-spending decisions.

Five secondary schools are involved in phase 1 of the Greenwich programme. The first aim of the project is to produce an ICT vision for the LEA and for each of the five schools. Following that the project will deliver an ICT output specification for the LEA and the schools.

Greenwich is procuring a Strategic Partnering Organisation (SPO) to implement the BSF programme. The outputs of Socitm Consulting's work will form the basis of a technical procurement exercise which the SPO will be charged with undertaking.

The ICT vision for Greenwich's BSF programme will be informed by broad consultations and evidence of good practice from elsewhere in the UK and beyond. The output specifications will cover the provision of ICT at each school and identify links to community, pan-London and Council-provided services. Socitm Consulting will also provide Greenwich with recommendations about future ICT strategy and implementation based on this work.

The review will investigate systems and software to support learning and promote e-confidence and e-competence. Issues that will be focused on include pupil and teacher usage models and ICT requirements, teaching and support staff roles and activities, and anticipating future trends to ensure the sustainability of models and technology.

Socitm Consulting will carry out detailed consultation on the vision and output specification with a broad range of stakeholders, including schools staff and LEA representatives. Consultation will be linked with awareness-raising events about ICT, and undertaken through single-school meetings, joint workshops and presentations.

The significance of this project for Greenwich is that by developing a broad and consultative ICT vision the authority will ensure wide buy-in by stakeholders for plans that are based on a detailed investigation and understanding of the ICT needs within its schools and community.

Socitm Consulting's Managing Consultant Stephen Hill congratulates Greenwich on taking the initiative in developing an ICT vision. "We are very excited to be part of this process because Greenwich has recognised ICT as a transformational tool that is linked with many other factors in education and the community. By developing a collective vision for ICT it is laying the groundwork for a successful educational future."

For Greenwich the development of a consultative vision for ICT is very much part of its broader vision for transformation. "The visioning exercise will result in a better understanding of ICT as a transformational factor in our BSF programme", says Mike Hickie, Head of Policy, Education Directorate, Greenwich Council. "Transformation is a goal that extends well beyond the provision of ICT alone, but by getting ICT right we hope to ensure that our schools are prepared for the future."

Notes to editors 

Socitm is an association of ICT professionals working in and for local authorities and other public sector bodies. It is a leading authority on the effective application of ICT in local government, and provides information and advice through a growing programme of research, publications, conferences, training, and consultancy.

Socitm Consulting has grown rapidly since its launch in 1997 to become the consultancy most used by local authorities in the areas of e-government and ICT. It has completed more than 800 projects for over 300 different clients. Heavily involved in all aspects of e-government strategy, planning and implementation, Socitm Consulting carries out a wide range of other projects in the areas of benchmarking and performance management, partnership management, change management and technology management.

The London Borough of Greenwich (http://www.greenwich.gov.uk/Greenwich) is one of 12 inner London boroughs, located south-east of Central London, and includes three main town centres; Greenwich, Woolwich and Eltham. Greenwich has been chosen by DfES as a pathfinder for Building Schools for the Future, giving the opportunity and funding to redevelop or refurbish every Greenwich secondary school to 21st century standards over the coming 10 years. Alongside the Council's agenda for improving its entire ICT infrastructure, the Education Directorate has a strategy for schools ICT. This includes proposals for building on the existing ICT investment and for schools to exploit fully all the new technologies to transform teaching and learning. The new strategy outlines extending community use of school computers, both to support community learning and as part of the e-Government 24/7 agenda