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ICT in Schools Standards Fund and the Espresso Education Curriculum Service - Guidance for Schools and LEAs 2003-2004

This page is designed to help LEAs and schools develop a greater understanding of how Espresso Education can support schools, teachers and pupils. In particular, this page shows how the Espresso service meets the needs set out in the 2003 - 2004 Standards Fund Grant.

The full ICT in Schools Standards Fund document can be found at: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/standardsfund/grant601.htm.

LEA allocations and basic grant details were sent to all LEAs in November 2002 (LEA/0473/2002).

Extract from ICT in Schools Standards Fund document section 3
Extract from ICT in Schools Standards Fund document section 16
Extract from ICT in Schools Standards Fund document sections 27, 28, 30
Extract from ICT in Schools Standards Fund document section 32
Extracts from ICT in Schools Standards Fund document section 33:

Extract from ICT in Schools Standards Fund document section 3:

Introduction

“The objective of the ICT in Schools Grant is to raise standards through effective investment in, and efficient use of, ICT in schools. The grant should improve the quality, diversity and management of teaching and learning by supporting effective investment in the resources necessary to enable the embedding of e-learning and e-business practices in schools.”

The Espresso curriculum service offers over 26Gb of digital media-rich content, designed by teachers for teachers, and provides new and curriculum-relevant content every week.

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Extract from ICT in Schools Standards Fund document section 16:

Grant 601a: Infrastructure

“At least 15% of the funding devolved to schools through grant A should be used in the procurement and development (e.g. in conjunction with local developers, including libraries, archives, museums etc.) of educational content (including content eligible under curriculum online) and applications, and operational software that supports the delivery of the curriculum and school management and administration. In particular grant 601a can be used to purchase:

Operating Software, Software for operational safety & Digital content for curriculum use.”

Espresso Education is the market leader in developing bespoke media-rich curriculum resources in partnership with LEAs, EAZs, City Learning Centres and Regional Broadband Consortia. Completed projects include:

Victorian Times, History, Key Stage 2 (with Northern Grid RBC)
Go On And Learn, Key Stage 2, Literacy, Numeracy and D & T (with Sunderland EAZ)Sculpture, Key Stage 2, Art and Design (with Wakefield EAZ)
Faiths, Key Stage 2, RE (with London Grid for Learning RBC)
PE GCSE, Key Stage 4, PE (with Hartlepool City Learning Centre)

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Extract from ICT in Schools Standards Fund document sections 27, 28, 30:

Grant 601b: Connectivity

Caching and Effective Network Design

“Caching is a process whereby data is stored locally in the expectation that it will be accessed in the future. Preloaded data can be accessed at faster speeds because it is nearer the destination and because of high speed local cabling (often up to 100 megabits per second).

Caching/local media storage should be implemented in schools as soon as guidance (see paragraph 30) is available, as part of a content delivery solution. Caching is not an alternative to increased connectivity but will help to optimise the usage of available bandwidth… An appropriate mix of broadband and caching will be required to enable a school to make full use of collaborative working and the digital curricular resources promoted through the Curriculum Online initiative.

"When purchasing a managed caching service, schools should follow the recommended specification (Reference to Becta website) and the guidance of their LEA. The DfES and Becta are considering the feasibility of implementing a Framework Agreement for caches and managed caching services.”

Espresso Expertise

The mention of caching for the first time in the Standards Fund document is a significant new development. We recognize that the use of caches and the specification are new to many LEAs and also to other content providers in the marketplace. It should be noted that Espresso has years of experience in installing, configuring and, crucially, in updating caches. We have long believed in the importance of combining broadband and caching, in order for schools to have access to realistically priced connectivity that offers a true broadband experience. This is a view that the government and BECTA are now acknowledging and promoting.

We are working with a variety of hardware companies on this solution. Each solution we recommend exceeds all the requirements of Becta’s specifications. We will also ensure that any cache providers we work with are able to upgrade products in the future if necessary.

The Espresso Open Cache is capable of storing other media-rich material from organisations like the BBC, if and when such material becomes available.

The 'openness' of the Espresso Cache means that it can be updated weekly via:

broadband connection
ISDN
CD-ROM

Includes:

120GB hard disk
512MB ram
Dual Ethernet ports
ISDN / broadband Interface

It offers up to 100 concurrent users access to network and web resources, with no loss of quality of speed.

Espresso Installation Service

1-day installation service:

Pre-installation technical audit
Installation of Espresso Open Cache including Espresso archive onto local area or peer-to-peer network
Configuration of clients (up to a maximum of 25)
Update trial and testing

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Extract from ICT in Schools Standards Fund document section 32:

Other ICT related Standards Fund Grants

Grant 508b: Support Staff Training and Development

“Grant 508b is a new grant to take forward the proposals relating to training and development of the school support staff. The aim of this grant is to improve the quality and availability of training and development for school support staff, and to support shared approaches between small schools.”

The Espresso Education curriculum advisory service provides focused and tailored INSET for LEA personnel, teachers and classroom support staff. The ease with which digital content can be adapted to produce teaching materials makes Espresso an excellent resource for classroom support staff who can produce display materials or image and text based resources to meet the needs of the pupils and teachers.

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Extract from ICT in Schools Standards Fund document section 33 (1):

School ICT Development Plans

“In particular, the plan should:

Indicate how the school will use ICT to help raise educational standards by enhancing the delivery of the National Curriculum. In primary schools, the plan should demonstrate how ICT will contribute to the achievement of targets set by the school for improvements in the number of children achieving level four and above in mathematics and English.”

“Coupling entertaining visuals with educational activities has proved to be very effective. The children love researching news items and we have seen marked improvements in the pupils’ achievement in subjects such as numeracy and science”

Sue Blackburn, Head Teacher, Helmdon County Primary School

“Staff enjoy using Espresso because the content is matched so well with the requirements of the National curriculum...Espresso has prepared a wealth of supporting resources to extend teaching and learning.”

Mary Brooke, ICT Coordinator, Woodfield Special School

The Espresso curriculum service provides interactive and video rich resources for foundation and core subjects and closely follows literacy, numeracy, National Curriculum and QCA frameworks for foundation through to key stage 3. The breadth of the content makes whole curriculum planning for the use and application of ICT achievable and effective. In addition to the curriculum support materials within Espresso and the curriculum support via email and telephone; Espresso also provides structured programmes of intervention to support teachers in the raising of standards and achievement.

In Sunderland EAZ, Espresso curriculum advisors are working in partnership with the classroom teachers to raise achievement to level 4 in literacy with an identified group of children. Increasingly, LEAs and RBCs are drawing on Espresso’s INSET team to deliver on going curriculum development, targeting specific learning objectives.

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Extract from ICT in Schools Standards Fund document section 33 (2):

“Indicate what use in primary schools will be made of guidance from the National Numeracy and Literacy Strategy on using ICT to teach more effectively. In Secondary schools the plan should indicate how the schools will use ICT to support developments under the Key Stage three Strategy for ICT including the enhancing the school capacity to use ICT for teaching and assessment.

Indicate how investment in ICT will be co-ordinated with meeting the professional development needs of its teachers.”

“Espresso has played a key role in the raising of standards and enthusiasm in both teachers and pupils across ICT and the whole curriculum.”

Derek Smith, Director, Kings Cross EAZ

All Espresso resources, in each of the key stages are closely aligned to the curriculum documentation. The Espresso Staffroom provides links to QCA, National Curriculum & Literacy and Numeracy frameworks. The Staffroom is available on the Espresso server in school and via the Espresso web site for those teachers who wish to continue with their classroom planning at home or out of school. Furthermore, the in-school INSET sessions are structured to ensure that teachers are aware of the curriculum requirements and supported in the preparation of teaching and learning materials.

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Extract from ICT in Schools Standards Fund document section 33 (3):

“Indicate how the school’s ICT facilities will be made available for use out of normal school hours by pupils and for community purposes.”

A clear benefit of the Espresso cache solution is that the resources are available before school, lunchtime and after school without any additional on line costs. There are many examples of EAZs and schools introducing breakfast and after-school clubs for pupils and parents to use the engaging and topical Espresso resources. Unlike many other educational resources, Espresso contains thousands of text and video resources of relevance not only to the curriculum but of real interest to parents and the community.

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Extract from ICT in Schools Standards Fund document section 33 (4):

“Indicate how ICT will be used to promote inclusion, for example by supporting pupils with special educational needs and by developing home-school links (including the development of a school website).”

Gorsemoor has found Espresso to be particularly useful resource for the inclusion of students with special needs. With clear, simple navigation, Espresso puts pupils in control of their learning, allowing them to revisit concepts easily and to work at their own pace. Espresso’s video clips and interactive activities provide pupils with highly visual learning resources. According to Ms. Heath, “We have also found KS1 materials appropriate for working with our KS2 special needs students.”

Paul Bennett, Head Teacher, Gorsemoor Primary School

All Espresso materials are designed in line with accepted guidance on readability, include facilities to change size of text. In many cases, this can be read aloud while highlighting each word as it is spoken. The engaging nature of the graphics and huge video resource bank ensures that reluctant learners as well as those with special learning needs are motivated and supported in their learning within a classroom and, independently outside the traditional learning environment. Schools who subscribe to Espresso are free to use the resources within their own differentiated activities either on paper or electronically - including within the school web site.

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Espresso is a Curriculum Online Registered Content Provider. Use your Electronic Learning Credits (eLCs) to subscribe to your chosen Espresso service. More...