Schools must take into account the demands of all the latest pedagogic strategies such as Every Child Matters and Assessment for Learning while still preparing for the influences that developments like Building Schools for the Future and the Primary Capital Programme will bring.
It is vital that current school planning takes all aspects of the future into consideration so that structural, management and education schemes will work holistically and not in isolation. In order to meet that challenge schools will need a new generation of IT products that is flexible enough to cope with the change and robust enough to support it.
Serco Learning has been at the forefront of education for more than a decade, offering innovative and far-sighted software solutions that address the unique requirements and situation of every school. We support schools in transforming education and moving beyond software with a solution that delivers their required outcomes.
Serco believes that truly personalised learning, enabling every child to reach their full potential, is only possible through integrated systems that allow all stakeholders to share data. Isolated, disparate systems needing repeated data entry give rise to errors and are a waste of time and effort that could be more productively directed into teaching. Schools increasingly need to operate many different systems that can communicate and exchange useful information in order to provide an effective education journey for all learners.
Serco Learning's Facility schools management system is regularly revised to meet the ever-changing demands of education. Development takes place in line with client requests to ensure that Facility is relevant and helpful to its users. We work with our customers to develop our products and services further and we share best practice gained from our range of experience with schools. That means we are ideally placed to remain at the cutting edge of the market with new and exciting solutions to meet the new challenges of education.
In response to the latest changes the company, in partnership with Microsoft, has launched a new product line called Facility Aspire. It is a new suite of integrated software that focuses on the key education themes of personalised learning and improvement while offering the flexibility necessary to blend with BSF and PCP programmes.
It anticipates some of the changes in education brought by BSF and Primary Capital Programmes Serco Learning managing director Alan Teece said: "This represents a major investment to build a new type of solution for education that is modular, fully web based and available to an enterprise of schools as a single system, be this a Local Authority, Federation or Academy grouping.
"The suite provides the first solution that truly meets the requirements of the Building Schools for the Future and Primary Capital Programme schemes, using Web 2.0 and Cloud computing approaches."
Aspire provides a range of IT tools that meet the demands of school management, lesson delivery and community engagement in the 21st century. As well as meeting new demands it will also free up schools and Local Authorities from many of the running costs and restrictions of the current generation of school software solutions.
Aspire is designed to offer flexibility and choice while operating through a single log in so that users no longer have to log into multiple systems, search for relevant data and integrate the results manually. The information appears as a single application delivered on a single screen.
Serco Learning made the strategic decision to base the suite on the MicrosoftTM Platform using .NET. Alan Teece continued: "We have made a major strategic commitment to base this suite on the Microsoft Platform using .NET and technologies as wide ranging as Server2008, SQL Server2008, Sharepoint, Microsoft Live and will anticipate the forthcoming Microsoft Azure services platform. We are delighted with the support we are receiving from Microsoft in the UK and US."
With experience in a wide educational field including schools in the UK and overseas, Independent schools, Further and Higher Education, Local Authority Children's Services management and NHS online training, Serco Learning is recognised as a leading provider of products and services. More than a million learners around the world already benefit from Serco products and services.
The Aspire suite comprises:
Facility Connect - created to answer the growing demand for interoperability and data exchange in education.
Skillspace - a dynamic, engaging learning platform that enhances communication.
Alfie - a fast, effective and fun electronic approach to Assessment for Learning.
V2R (Vision to Reality) - a unique consultancy service providing solutions to assist schools and Local Authorities in a variety of key areas.
Perspective - a powerful self evaluation tool.
Curriculum Organiser - an online lesson planning system that reduces the burden of paperwork involved in organising classes.
ePortfolio - a truly personalised learning profile that confirms individual skills and capabilities
Exchequer for Schools - an industry standard, functionally rich solution financial package
Progresso - a primary school MIS offering which is completely web delivered and provides secure access to pupil data for all.
To learn more about Aspire and to see Facility in action visit Serco Learning at Stand F20 at BETT this year.
