Management Information Sheet

Following a reduction in budget from Norfolk County Council earlier this year, the Access to Computers and Technology (ACT) Service had to review the way Looked After Children are provided with a computer for use at home. The provision of equipment to be used away from the school setting supports their wider learning, ability to work independently whilst giving them equal opportunities as their peers. It is the expectation that the equipment will remain with the Young Person (YP) through any changes of placement and education setting.

Social Workers are now responsible for applying to the young person's school for all new requests for children ages 5-16. As a school you are in an excellent position to provide equipment and software most suitable to meet their needs. The equipment will be covered by your IT maintenance contract and you will be responsible for the repair and updates. Should the YP move on, their new school will assume responsibility for the ongoing maintenance.

Applications are to be made to the Virtual School to access Pupil Premium to purchase the chosen equipment. As the devices are to be used in the home environment, filtering software will also need to be purchased to provide the same filtering levels as they would have within school, thus safeguarding both young person and you as a school.

ACT will provide a further safeguarding tool in the form of E-Safe on all new machines issued from 1 September 2016. E-Safe monitors use and provides E-Safe alerts which are passed onto ACT and Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH). Alerts can be triggered, for example, through the use of key words in search engines and social media, or through browsing inappropriate sites. We would then liaise with the YP's Social Worker in regard to these alerts.

There is no cost to you as a school for this service as ACT purchases the licences for all machines and is responsible for the contract.

Once you have made an application to the Virtual School the referral will be passed onto ACT. We will then contact you to arrange for E-Safe to be installed and to ensure suitable filtering software has been purchased. The Virtual School will not authorise the release of the Pupil Premium until these conditions have been agreed to.

If you require advice and guidance as to suitable equipment and filtering software available, ICT Shared Services have put together packages they recommend at competitive prices. They can be contacted on 01603 495800.

ACT continues to supply equipment and software to young people aged 16-25 yrs who are continuing in further or higher education.

More information:
Vanessa Fish, LAC Educational Enhancement Co-ordinator
Access to Computers and Technology
Kinesis Centre
Norwich City Football Club
Carrow Road
Norwich
NR1 1JE
01603 303366
vanessa.fish@educatorsolutions.org.uk