City Learning Centre
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A City Learning Centre is a facility in the United Kingdom which provides state-of-the art ICT-based learning opportunities for the pupils at the host school, for pupils at a network of surrounding schools and for the wider community. Their emphasis is on aiming to enhance learning across the whole curriculum by providing courses and opportunities for individual pupils from schools around the area. The multimedia establishments cater for any age and level of ICT understanding, and some offer conferencing facilities which are pre-bookable by local businesses.
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[edit] Growth
The number of established City Learning Centres in England has exceeded 100, and is still steadily growing since their introduction in 2001. Many City Learning Centres are established on the same ground as an existing school (for example, South Sefton City Learning Centre was established on the grounds of Savio High School).
For a list of operational City Learning Centres in England, see List of City Learning Centres in England.
[edit] Funding
City Learning Centres are heavily funded by the British Government through the Excellence in Cities programme to ensure they are able to cater for the requirements of local schools and businesses within the area, with emphasis on enhancing opportunities in disadvantaged areas. Up to £1.2 million of Revenue Funding per CLC is available for capital and initial start-up costs plus recurring funding of £220,000 per annum.
After their first year of operation, an additional £150,000 is available for Capital Redevelopment Funding to ensure their technology remains at the forefront. However, unlike revenue funding, it is only released from the first full financial year that a CLC is fully operational, requiring that a Centre must be open before 31 March in order to trigger funding in the following financial year. This however is limited to building and structure work, hardware and software, but not the funding required for subscriptions for such software. It should not be used to pay for consumables, staffing costs or other non-CLC purposes. In addition, this money must be spent on the Centre and not simply shared out amongst its partner schools, unless it is to improve connectivity between a Centre and partner schools.
[edit] Usage
The Centres are there for schools to use and to come up with interesting, innovative and replicable lesson plans, extra curricular activities and to discover new ways of using technology in the classroom. An important reason for using the Centres, as well as spreading technology more widely, is that it encourages schools to work more co-operatively with each other, sharing ideas as they share the resources. It means the Centres are able to be equipped with more specialist technology that would otherwise not be cost-effective for individual schools to buy, and will be a 'draw' for pupils and the community as a place to experience the latest technology, as well as meet and exchange ideas. In cases where transport is difficult (or for times when getting to the Centre isn't practical), schools will be able to access the Centres' resources remotely through a 'hub and spoke' arrangement.[1]
