A City Learning Centre is a facility in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 which provides state-of-the-art ICT-based learning opportunities for the pupils at the host school, for pupils at a network of surrounding schools and for the wider community. Their emphasis is on aiming to enhance learning across the whole curriculum

Curriculum

See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...

 by providing courses and opportunities for individual pupils from schools around the area. The multimedia

Multimedia

Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...

 establishments cater for any age and level of ICT understanding, and some offer conferencing facilities which are pre-bookable by local businesses.

Growth

The number of established City Learning Centres in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 exceeded 100, and steadily grew since their introduction in 2001. Many City Learning Centres are established on the same ground as an existing school (for example, South Sefton City Learning Centre was established on the grounds of Savio High School

Savio High School

Savio Salesian College is a Roman Catholic secondary school in Bootle, Merseyside, England. The school is under the care of the Salesians of Don Bosco and was successful in early 2006 to secure a bid for specialist Business & Enterprise status. The school has about 820 pupils on roll...

).

Funding

City Learning Centres were heavily funded by the British Government through the Excellence in Cities

Excellence in Cities

The Excellence in Cities programme was launched by the British Government in March 1999 to raise standards and promote inclusion in inner cities and other urban areas, to try to resolve the educational problems of these inner cities that successive governments have failed to resolve...

 programme to ensure they were able to cater for the requirements of local schools and businesses within the area, with an emphasis on enhancing opportunities in disadvantaged areas. Up to £1.2 million of Revenue Funding per CLC was available for capital and initial start-up costs plus recurring funding of £220,000 per annum.

After their first year of operation, an additional £150,000 was available for Capital Redevelopment Funding to ensure their technology remains at the forefront. However, unlike revenue funding, it was only released from the first full financial year that a CLC was fully operational, requiring that a Centre must be open before 31 March in order to trigger funding in the following financial year. This however was limited to building and structure work, hardware

Hardware

Hardware is a general term for equipment such as keys, locks, hinges, latches, handles, wire, chains, plumbing supplies, tools, utensils, cutlery and machine parts. Household hardware is typically sold in hardware stores....

 and software, but not the funding required for subscriptions for such software. It should not be used to pay for consumables, staffing costs or other non-CLC purposes. In addition, this money must be spent on the Centre and not simply shared out amongst its partner schools, unless it is to improve connectivity between a Centre and partner schools.

Funding for CLCs was completely abolished when the coalition government came into power in May 2010. The majority of CLCs have closed leaving some still operating. City Learning Centre's now generate income directly from schools, local authorities, other work with businesses or a combination of all of these.

Usage

The Centres are there for schools to use and to come up with interesting, innovative and replicable lesson plans, extra curricular activities and to discover new ways of using technology in the classroom. An important reason for using the Centres, as well as spreading technology more widely, is that it encourages schools to work more co-operatively with each other, sharing ideas as they share resources. It means the Centres are able to be equipped with more specialist technology that would otherwise be cost-effective for individual schools, and will be a 'draw' for pupils and the community as a place to experience the latest technology, as well as meet and exchange ideas. In cases where transport is difficult (or for times when getting to the Centre isn't practical), schools will be able to access the Centres' resources remotely through a 'hub and spoke' arrangement.

Activities

City Learning Centres offer a wide range of activities and facilities to the pupils in the surrounding area. Some of the facilities or available activities include:

• Use of computer facilities not available in schools.
• Use of expertise in teaching and learning not available in schools.
• Use of professional Apple Macs for activities such as video editing.
• Use of specialist video editing equipment and software.
• Facilities to print large scale industrial-size printing.
• School radio
  Synergy School Radio
  Synergy School Radio is a digital integrated radio studio built and designed by Clyde Broadcast. Synergy is the UK's leading digital radio studio currently used in education in the UK....
  
   stations.
• Consultancy on the use of a range of technologies within the curriculum.
• Expertise in the use of mobile devices such as the iPad in teaching and learning.

See also

• List of City Learning Centres in England
• Excellence in Cities
  Excellence in Cities
  The Excellence in Cities programme was launched by the British Government in March 1999 to raise standards and promote inclusion in inner cities and other urban areas, to try to resolve the educational problems of these inner cities that successive governments have failed to resolve...
  
  
• Education in England
  Education in England
  Education in England is overseen by the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Local authorities take responsibility for implementing policy for public education and state schools at a regional level....