School information
Our Services
Schools affiliated to the e-Learning Foundation can benefit from a range of support services:
Help & Advice
As an affiliate you get access to a dedicated team of School Liaison Managers (SLM). They have expertise in helping schools develop and launch affordable and sustainable to ensure all their pupils learn both in school and at home. Much has been learnt over the last ten years delivering such programs to over 400 schools; they can help you benefit from that experience.
The SLM’s work closely with other stakeholders groups and are well placed to put schools in contact with a variety of useful information sources.
Once affiliated you get access to the ‘affiliate zone’ of the e-Learning Foundation’s website, which provides:
- Parental engagement advice
- Planning resources
- Best practice advice
- Template letters for launching programs to students and parents
- Access to special offers such as internet access and insurance
- Discounted Conference rates.
- Go to details about affiliation
Donation Management Service (DMS)
We know that schools need a hassle free way of collecting money from parents when they run a program, so we have developed the Donation Management Service (DMS). If you don't want the hassle of running a local charity or the administrative burden of collecting regular parental donations then our DMS service will help you:
- Collect and manage your parental donations and deal with parents queries
- Obtain a share of any Gift Aid claimable from the Inland Revenue (currently 25%)
- Monitor your donations through our web portal on a regular basis
- Help with cash donations via PayPoint
- View full details of our DMS service
Paypoint cash collection service - for schools & donor
Where families are unable or unwilling to make their donations to the school e-learning programme through direct debit or credit card, the children often regularly bring in their donation in the form of cash. Not only are there significant safety issues about children carrying money into school, but feedback from schools tells us that handling cash generates a lot of administration and accountancy work, and the money often takes some time before it can be banked.
Under our Donation Management Service we also offer schools a convenient and secure method of collecting cash donations from families.The service utilises the PayPoint network that families may well already be using to pay their utility and phone bills.
When a school opts to use PayPoint as a method of collection, the e-Learning Foundation issues an individually barcoded card to the parents and carers who want to donate by cash. The cards are accepted at any of the 22,000 PayPoints across the UK, including newsagents, convenience stores, supermarkets and garages, most open long hours, and many seven days a week.
The money is paid into the school bank account along with funds gathered through other donation methods. Schools receive regular reports on the number and value of donations made via our web portal. As with all other forms of donation made through the Donation Management Service, PayPoint donations will attract Gift Aid wherever a donor has completed a Gift Aid declaration, currently worth 25% of the value of each donation.
Schools wishing to use the PayPoint Service will need to sign an additional agreement with the e-Learning Foundation. Please contact us for more details.
Events
Come along to one of our conferences that are held around the country. The conferences are always highly topical and invaluable to any school considering, planning or running an programme. You will also have the opportunity to meet the e-Learning Foundation team, other members of this e-learning network and learn about how schools can really tackle the digital divide in their community. Affiliated schools enjoy discounted rates on all of our conferences.
Grants
From time to time we are able to we are able to offer affiliated schools the opportunity to apply for a grant to support the launch of thier programme. For more information look under Grants under the 'School Information' tab.
Finance
Capital budget constraints will make it harder than ever before for schools to pay upfront for computers for e-learning programmes. The Foundation’s latest schools survey confirms that 78% of schools have been buying their computers outright, and then collecting the parent’s donations over a period of 2-3 years. However, as budgets get tighter schools will need to consider leasing as a way of spreading the costs of the programme.
The e-Learning Foundation has partnered with Investec* to provide schools with a lease specifically developed to be acceptable to the school’s funding regulations, and already approved by a number of Local Authorities.
“This is a practical solution to help schools who see their budgets dwindling and cannot see a way forward to provide the pupils with the devices they need for home and school use. When the cupboard is bare then a well constructed lease is often the only alternative available to schools. When linked to a donation scheme for parents the Enable package can effectively neutralise the financial exposure of the school” says Valerie Thompson, Chief Executive of the e-Learning Foundation.
enable means that schools can now benefit from a widely approved lease from Investec and the support of the e-Learning Foundation in collecting parental donations. Together we can ensure schools have everything they need to run a truly universal access scheme.
enable is available to any school that is affiliated to the Foundation and intends to use the equity model to deliver their programme. This will include the collection of voluntary parental donations by the Foundation’s Donation Management Service (DMS). This allows the school to benefit from additional funds through Gift Aid.
Programme requirements
Every programme supported by the e-Learning Foundation must involve our three core principles:
Equity of access
A school that provides equity of access is one where every child in a given group (e.g. cohort, class or year group) has exactly the same opportunity to have access to the school’s technology, at home as well as in the classroom, regardless of whether, or how much, their parents have contributed to the school e-learning scheme. (Parents can, of course, always choose to opt out). Where a school operates a 1:1 ratio then every child will be provided with their own device (laptop, PDA, etc) regardless of parental contribution.
Sustainability
Sustainability is at the heart of the e-Learning Foundation model. it is not possible us to fund the thousands of schools that wish to support out of school learning through technology so local sustainability is vital. Parents are asked to make small donations, normally collected monthly, towards the cost of the e-learning programme.
Home use
The focus of the e-Learning Foundation is helping schools extend access to ICT beyond the school day and the school gate, and in particular ensuring home access is universally available. While schools increasingly provide good access to ICT during the day, they rarely allow pupils to take school laptops home in the evenings or at the weekend. Research confirms that high levels of home access to a computer makes a significant impact on the learning outcomes of schoolchildren, an impact that children from better off families inevitably benefit from in contrast to children from more disadvantaged families.