News
Old middle school is demolished at Pakefield
Construction work on the third and final phase at Pakefield High School has kicked off with the demolition of the old middle school and sports hall. Perry Linsley, Head Teacher at the school jumped at
the chance to take part in the demolition and is pictured (centre) in front of the mechanical excavator as the work got underway. He is with Beth Dale, Project Manager for Concertus Design & Property Consultants and Ken Tucker, Senior Site Manager for Barnes Construction. Barnes Construction is the principal contractor for the
building work, which will see 11 new classrooms, as well as a new sports hall and MUGA pitch (Multi Use Games Area) constructed. Concertus is working on behalf of the client, Suffolk County Council, providing fully integrated consultancy services that include architectural and landscape design, as well as project management. Pakefield is the first new high school to be built by
Suffolk County Council in over 20 years. Built over three phases, Phase 1 started in late 2010. Phase 2 completed in the summer last year and Phase 3 is due to be completed by summer 2016. Perry Linsley commented: “This demolition of the old
middle school building will then lead onto the foundations being laid for the new two-storey classroom block. This is a very exciting time for Pakefield and when work is finally completed next year, our school will have the facilities to enable it to meet the standards required for the provision of education in the 21st Century.”
uwww.pakefield.org.uk
Exeter College uses online payment solutions to improve the experience of its 11,000 students
Exeter College provides further and higher education courses for over 11,000 full and part time students across seven sites, mainly situated in the city centre but with one site located 50 miles away. Rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted for two inspections in a row, it was also named BTEC College of the Year in 2014. The primary objective for the
implementation of online payment solutions was to improve the customer experience for students by streamlining the college’s existing payment processes. The college chose a solution from WisePay
which, according to Juliet Tremeer, Head of Finance and Richard Brine, Head of Information and Learning Services, “offered us the most flexibility and allowed us to customise our selected modules to meet our specific needs. “The services purchased include packages
to help with travel, purchasing course materials, course bookings and enrolment, trip
payment and management, student management (for automatic synchronisation with student database), and communication (alerts, emailing and texting). “Online payment services have helped to
modernise our business processes and assisted our Finance service in better meeting the needs and expectations of our students. For example, rather than just bolting on online payment to our travel scheme, we are building a whole new, more efficient, business process with the system as a key component. “The Finance service has improved its
customers’ experience; expectations for a modern, online, system are being met and Finance team members’ time is freed up to deal with other matters of concern to our students. Overall, the introduction of our online payment system has been an extremely positive experience.”
uwww.exe-coll.ac.uk
Tech industry joins forces to urge Government to boost digital skills teaching for UK students
The digital industry and Government are failing to inspire enough young people to consider a ‘digital industry’ career and if action is not taken immediately the UK economy will suffer, according to a panel of leading experts. Digital sector industry body, BIMA, the British Interactive Media Association
called a summit of leading executives from tech giants Microsoft and Google to tackle the skills shortage that threatens the growth of UK digital economy as part of its Digital Day* initiative. A study by O2 in 2013 estimated that the UK will need 750,000 more digitally-skilled workers in order to meet demand for growth in this sector. Nishma Robb, Head of Commercial Marketing at Google joined Hugh Milward, Corporate Affairs Director at Microsoft UK, and YouTube vlogger Fleur De Force, along with Jessica Cecil, Controller of BBC Make It Digital and Clare Verga, Principal of City of London Academy, Islington. Natalie Gross, CEO of digital marketing and technology consultancy Amaze and BIMA Executive joined the panel in saying that “Government, schools, businesses, membership organisations and individuals all need to work together to demonstrate the breadth of opportunities for young people in digital.” Nishma Robb agreed, and pointed out that careers guidance in schools is very poor, and has hardly changed for the past 10 years. What is needed is
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www.education-today.co.uk
better education and understanding, for both teachers and students, combined with great role modelling from successful digital pioneers like Fleur De Force. YouTube vlogger Fleur De Force described the difficulty she has faced from
teachers and parents who do not understand that what she does is a ‘proper job’. “People need to understand that digital is an open book, and it is involved in every single industry,” she said. On the subject of support for women entering the industry, Hugh Milward said that if double the number of women were to enter the world of digital, it would be a good starting point. “The government needs to understand its powerful role, and must listen and learn how to unlock the willingness that there already is to make a difference and have an impact,” he said. Clare Verga called on businesses to come into schools and demonstrate how powerful the digital industry is, and what the opportunities are for young people. Kate Russell summarised by highlighting the importance of a joined-up
approach to solving the problem of the digital skills gap. She said: “We need to stop relying on business to fill in the gaps for Government and we need to start joining the dots of some of these organisations who are all working independently of each other to speak with one voice.”
uwww.bima.co.uk July 2015
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