ASE 2008 in Liverpool

We very much look forward to attending ASE 2008, which is taking place between 3rd - 5th January. We have attended this national event for the past two years and so far it has proved one of the better events throughout the year. Please click here for more information on ASE 2008.

As a company based in Liverpool, we felt it was paramount to attend this year once we heard that the venue was the University of Liverpool! Despite having customers from as far afield as Cornwall and Cumbria, we like to maximise local links. We have many Liverpool schools using Taecanet Springboard, and the whole of Knowsley LEA within our community of schools. We are also in talks with the Culture Company regarding two initiatives designed to tie in with the 2008 European Capital of Culture award. The first one will be to use Taecanet Springboard to release some unique 'Liverpool' based units of work for Primary and Secondary schools, with associated competitions and prizes. The second initiative would be to broadcast ongoing events using our Virtual Classroom. This could provide a live feed via the web, meaning the events could be broadcast to any destination instantly. It would also provide the opportunity for an interactive element, meaning that both points of the broadcast (send/receive) could communicate effectively.

If you would like to know any more about this initiative, or any of the Taecanet services, feel free to come and visit us at ASE 2008 at stand D41. If you would like to book a time to come and see us at this event, please call 0151 907 2946 or email chris.davison@taecanet.com

1 Million Journeys!

Taecanet, and our associated schools have reached a huge milestone in the last few days with the One Millionth Learning Journey being completed!

At 16.31 on the 5th December 2007, a pupil from Holy Trinity School in Cookham, completed Journey number 1, 000, 000 as part of their homework. As it turns out, this could have been awarded to any number of schools, as this accolade went down to the wire. Schools from Bracknell Forest and Gloucester were completing journeys mere seconds before and after number 1 million. Ian Nairn, founder of Taecanet said;

"Pupils from literally dozens of schools were simultaneously doing Taecanet homework online; Holy Trinity beat other schools to the 1,000,000th journey by only two hundredths of a second!".

Headteacher, Graeme Aldous was very pleased that his school had won this award.

"We are all excited by the success and looking forward to making good use of our prizes. Having been one of the earliest subscribing schools and the one that completed the 1,000,000th learning journey is an unexpected and very pleasant surprise".

As a reward, the school will win a free 1 year subscription to Taecanet Springboard, as well as a free Virtual Classroom licence. This will help Holy Trinity to connect with other schools, either locally, or internationally.

Mr Aldous, on a more general note, went on to say the following about Taecanet Springboard.

"Our teachers and pupils find it an innovative, creative and enjoyable online learning service, it brings all the benefits of the internet with none of the drawbacks, it has made a genuine and profound impact upon our Key Stage 2 Science SATs".

For the full article, please click here. If anyone would like more information on Taecanet Springboard, please call 0871 288 4580.

Congratulations to everyone at Holy Trinity and all of the other schools who have contributed to this achievement!

SSAT 2007 prize winner......

Many thanks to all those who were able to visit us at the 2007 SSAT Event in Birmingham. We had a lot of interest in Taecanet Springboard from schools all over the country from as far afield as Dorset to Leeds! The thing that sets the SSAT events apart from many others, is the quality of the delegates. I get the feeling that the teachers at SSAT have a genuine interest in finding solutions to their problems, and raising standards in their school, which must be applauded.

To that end, I think teachers can see that we are on the right lines by offering a content and assessment based 'knowledge share', in order to disseminate best practice and save teacher's time. The beauty of Taecanet is that it is teachers who generate the content for the service, and we merely use our expertise to harness and spread this knowledge to our 500 school subscribers.

Our Virtual Classroom facility uses the same philosophy by offering schools the chance to collaborate online, in real time. This is an excellent way of sharing expert teachers across networks of schools without the need for anyone to move physical locations. In terms of mentoring or specialist teachers collaborating with local clusters, this technology can be prolific.

We were also offering a free prize draw for every person who visited the stand, to offer a free Taecanet Springboard Licence for one year, starting today. I would like to congratulate Heathcote School (E4 6ES) in London as the winner! We met Barry Hersom, the Headteacher, who expressed an interest in our service, and the school can now benefit from the knowledge of 100's of teachers. This licence will provide you with coverage of KS1-KS3 History, Science, Geography, Religious Education and Citizenship, as well as any other subjects added over the next 12 months. Please call 0871 288 4580 in order claim your prize.

Many thanks to everyone that visited our stand, and welcome aboard to Heathcote School! If any other schools wish to book an on-site appointment with us, please call the number above or email chris.davison@taecanet.com