'Kelly hours' plans see schools take on community ICT role
The Government has unveiled vague plans for schools to provide communities with access to ICT facilities under a new multi-million pound scheme.
Public ICT access forms part of a "core offer" of after-hours extended services that all secondary schools would introduce by 2010, said the Department for Education and Skills on 13 June.
However, the DfES prospectus published to set out the Government's vision had no further information to flesh out the proposals.
The document did not refer to how the new community ICT facilities would sit alongside the Government's existing and under-used network of UK Online Centres.
It stated only that "parents and other adults within the community will also benefit from the facilities within schools being made available more widely."
Announcing the scheme, Education Secretary Ruth Kelly said: "Schools are at the heart of our communities and it makes sense to extend the services they offer beyond the traditional school day".
She added: "We're not expecting teachers to deliver these services, but for schools to work with providers in the voluntary and private sectors, support staff and other children's services to develop their local provision."
To take this forward, the Government has allocated funding which would allow a third of special schools and a half of primaries to provide the core extended services by 2008.
A total of £680 million will be available, of which £250m will be provided to cover schools' short-term set-up costs over the next two years.
The DfES also said that it wanted all extended schools to promote national helplines and websites to signpost parents to advice and support services.
Related Links
Further details can be found at www.teachernet.gov.uk/extendedschools.
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