UCST schools and ULT academies are national leaders in the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for the improvement of teaching and learning.

The use of Interactive Whiteboards sits at the heart of the learning experience in classrooms; they are used in virtually every teaching space.

This is backed up by a comprehensive training and accreditation programme for every teacher within the Group. The ICT in our schools and academies run on state-of-the-art Local Area Networks (LAN), which in turn are connected to the Group's Wide Area Network (WAN).

Safe, secure and fast Internet access is provided through dedicated broadband connections and every teacher and student in the Group has access to a wide range of online curriculum resources and e-learning materials through LearnPremium.

A significant project for this year will also be the creation of a Central Learning Resource, sharing digital teaching and learning resources across the Group including digitized educational video. 

All schools currently have e-mail and calendar facilities, a facility which will be expanded to allow remote access by users across the Internet. The use of wireless technology is also being explored and is already in place in our academies where students and teachers can access network resources in any learning space.

Expansion of telephony into the area of Voice over IP (VoIP) will also allow schools and academies to use their LANs for telephone services. Videoconferencing has been installed across the Group and is being piloted in a number of educational projects.

A new Management Information System (MIS) will be commissioned, bringing together educational and administration functions for school leaders, teachers and administration staff.

As well as the comprehensive training programme offered through the Interactive Whiteboard programme, schools and academies are registered out-centres for training and testing with the European Computer Driving License (ECDL) programme. 

Additional training and testing of ICT capabilities is offered through the eDigital Competence Certificate (eDCC) scheme. Staff in schools and academies are also able to participate in a programme of single-day and residential ICT conferences conducted by UCST.

These conferences cover a range of areas including technical, pedagogical and e-learning themes.

Quality assurance in the area of ICT in education is offered across the Group through accreditation with the nationally recognized NAACEMark scheme. At the technical support level, schools and academies are covered by a comprehensive Service Level Agreement that incorporates a number of proactive technical support visits.

All school and Academy ICT functionality is based on networks incorporating the latest server technology including security, email, Internet provision and tools to enhance collaboration, teaching and learning.