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2002

THUS plc, one of the UK's leading providers of voice, networking, Internet and contact centre services, today announced that it has won a three year contract to provide a high-speed Internet connection to the wide area network that supplies Internet access to the City of Sunderland's 89 primary schools and 18 secondary schools. The service will be provided via THUS's new high capacity exchange at Doxford Park in the heart of Sunderland.

THUS was able to significantly reduce the costs associated with connecting schools to the new service because the City of Sunderland Council has concurrently asked THUS to provide a 1-gigabit link between its ICT headquarters and Sunderland's Civic Centre. This enabled THUS to undertake a single extension to its network capable of reaching both new customers rather than develop separate extensions for each customer.

99 percent of UK schools are now connected to the Internet but the vast majority rely upon narrowband connections some 15 to 30 times slower than broadband.

One of the key targets of the Government's National Grid for Learning (NGfL) Programme was to have at least 20 per cent of schools including all secondary schools connected to the Internet at broadband level by 2002. Today the picture is mixed, with October figures from the National Statistic Office showing that currently 9 per cent of primary schools, 66 per cent of secondary schools and 10 per cent of special schools have a broadband connection.

In spite of recent improvements, Sunderland has very high deprivation levels, ranking 15th out of 354 districts in the Government's Index of Multiple Deprivation[¹]. This places a proportionally higher responsibility on schools to help close the digital divide by providing children from low-income families with access to broadband at school.

"Schools without broadband are suffering from a 'connectivity bottleneck' with their Internet access too slow and incapable of handling the number of users they have," said Bill Allan, Chief Executive of THUS plc. "There are proven links between the standard of education, pupils' results and the quality of technology provision. The Government must accelerate its investment in broadband and commit to connecting all schools to broadband by 2004, so that all children can benefit from the advantages now available to the children of Sunderland."

"ICT is central to the national curriculum and to children's futures and broadband will certainly help in raising standards and improving their enjoyment of school," David Staples, Head of Strategy and Performance, Sunderland Education Authority.

Broadband can enable pupils of all abilities to take much greater control of their learning. It enables them to tailor their learning to reflect personal interests by delivering access to a wide range of curriculum options. This includes remote delivery of courses by world-class teachers and access to high quality digital learning resources. In addition, it provides pupils with access to enhanced peer-to-peer support, including the chance to participate in virtual communities with learners with similar interests on a global scale. Other innovations in learning enabled by broadband include helping pupils to:

• Create and publish portfolios of digital resources (including video, music and presentations).
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• Enjoy a rich blend of learning experiences beyond the boundaries of their school, including: collaborative learning through virtual communities; distance learning using techniques such as video-conferencing; and the use of virtual reality to complement and enhance field trips.

• Acquire a better appreciation of citizenship through access to a broad range of cultural resources and by closer interaction with members of the local and global community. Such contacts will also enhance and invigorate the teaching of foreign languages.

• Receive accreditation for their skills as well as their academic knowledge, for example through online 'just in time' testing to assess ICT skills.