Page 45 - link magazine

See us on the net @ www.swindonlink.com The Link Magazine • December 2000 45
School gets hyper-speed connection DECOTEX

Students at Greendown School can now access the internet at lightning speed, thanks to a government
funded project to exploit the power of broadband technology. Painter & Decorator
Both Swindon's Members of children will use computers be- dents, pages for teacher develop-
Parliament, Michael Wills and Ju- fore coming to school, after school ment, and creating links to sites Specialist Artexing
lia Drown, attended the launch of and at weekends, accessing courses which have been quality assured Tel: (01793) 791388
the super fast connection at Green- and researching information to for educational value.
down School on 10 November with help them with their studies." Greendown student Claire
education representatives and stu- He added that because broad- Hogan is finding the broadband
dents from schools in the Learning band technology is at the cutting for school work. "It really is quick qDfinity.com
connection useful in her research
Force Re-
g i o n a 1 to get information. You don't have
Broadband to wait for pages to load." Specialists in
Consortium, Teacher Chris Denley, Green-
made up of down project coordinator said the
local educa- technology was showing great ben- custom web
tion authori- efit in the short time it had been
ties covering available. "It has increased the design
Bath and productivity of internet based les-
North East sons tenfold and has fostered a Web solutions tailored
Somerset, new-found enthusiasm for com-
Gloucester- puterbased learning. The students to meet all the needs
shire, South are using the internet with much of your business,
Gloucester- greater confidence and have im-
shire North proved no end in terms of their providing a service that
Somerset. research skills. Teets your requirements.
Broad-
band allows data to be transmitted Dean Scott shows South Swindon MP
forty times faster than the average Julia Drown her picture on the WEB Design and
home computer. For example a swindonlink.com site whilst Michael E-Commerce Service
page heavy with photographs on Wills gets a super fast lesson from Clare uklinks4 Site Design and Content
The Link web site Hogan and Harjinder Khaira, watched
www.swindonlink.com might by Daniel Rashid-Thomas, chair ofgov- Management
take 50 seconds to download. At ernors Andrew Basson and project coor- There are some
Greendown it appeared instantly. dinator Chris Denley great resources Web Solution packages
Addressing the assembled offi- start from £100
cials and councillors North Swin- edge, the pilot projects were on the Internet.
don MP Michael Wills, who is also needed to explore how it can be Banner Design Services
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of used best and to test different ideas. But do you know starts from £200
State for Learning and Technol- Apart from the speed of finding where they are?
ogy, said that every school will be information, students will be able
connected to the internet by 2002, to talk to others live using video enquiries @ ntfinity.com
but the eight consortium across links and can watch a teacher at We do!
the country being funded by De- another location giving a lesson, Tel: 01793 532445
partment for Education were ex- either live or by a recording. www.uklinks4.com www.ntfinity.com
ploring how the next level of inter- A major part of the project in-
net technology will change learn- volves schools creating content
ing in schools and at home. based on courses and information
"At the heart of learning is the on local points of interest: students
teacher, to inspire and motivate can for example explore the rooms
and provide what a computer can- at Lydiard House. •
not. But the barriers between home The Learning Force consortium
and school are breaking down fast; is also creating pages aimed at stu- ^ • e

Parent support group looks for volunteers Our web design packages include:
The Swindon Parent Parthership Service has been in existence for a O a quality website for your business
year and is recruiting volunteers to help support parents, writes O branded pages telling customers who you are
Lindsey Corkill. and what you do
We provide parents with infor- The training lasts twelve weeks. O a contact page to help them reach you
mation and support about their Once registered as an Independ- O your own company domain name
child's special educational needs ent Parent Supporter (IPS) you will
by offering whatever suits them - a be allocated a family. O registration with 2,000 search engines
quick telephone call or a home visit, Volunteers are supported via the Call Tim or Nicola today
support at meetings or on visits to telephone by a co-ordinator and at
schools. Parents might also need half-termly meetings. If you have on 01635 230235 ®u^
help with writing letters or under- the time, the enthusiasm and the We'll answer your questions about rxAO^M
standing professionals, reports and commitment then we can train you what the internet could do for you.
education jargon. for this rewarding work. We want to make it easy for you. No need for any knowledge
Volunteers are trained to under- For more information and de- of the internet or even a computer!
stand the SEN assessment process tails of the introductory session
and what provision is available contact me on 466515.
locally, as well as listening skills, SPPS is also willing to give talks Mole Productions
how to support parents and to interested groups who want to www.moleproductions.com
equalities issues. know more.