RSS Press releases

At the meeting of Education and Learning committee tomorrow (Tuesday), Members will be asked to agree the investment to deliver virtual technology in our schools.

Improvements have already been made to the council’s infrastructure where a “Cloud First” model works well and is delivering services in an effective, more responsive, and more flexible way.  The investment would see this way of working rolled out to our schools so that our technology can be more resilient and reactive.

Following the announcement by the Deputy First Minister in May, stating that schools would be moving to a blended learning model, our council needed to prepare for the delivery of learning online for all our pupils.  This built on work that our teams had already started on the delivery of ‘Digital Schools’ for our pupils and staff.  Although our schools have now returned full time, the momentum has increased to have flexible digital learning in place.  This would also ensure that solutions are in place for pupils to continue to learn should local lockdowns in our communities be required.

The investment in technology outlined in the earlier report to Full Council supports our ambition that every school becomes a “Digital School” and that we have “Digital Champions” in our staff and pupils in every site.   Staff are currently being recruited to develop the D&G Virtual School – a project that will  include the ability to deliver remote teaching and learning for any pupil across the region, ease of joint working across schools, including shared resources that can be accessed from anywhere, and new, effective delivery methods for staff CPD.

Early testing of a proposed Proof of Concept for the delivery of a virtual solution for our schools was carried out during July and August.  This testing looked at several different aspects including using different applications, performance, access to interactive boards, printers and other hardware, and testing the access and performance from home.

The Finance and Procurement committee on 6 October 2020 approved the first phase of funding required to support investment in increased bandwidth for both primary and secondary schools and the primary wifi upgrade.  This will help to eliminate the ‘blackspot’ areas with schools and support the Primary Mobile Learning Network.

Chair of the Education and Learning committee, Jeff Leaver, said “In recent years, it was a priority for our Council to build first class facilities that were fit for purpose in the 21^st century. After recent events, we must recognise that we can no longer  just concentrate on the physical infrastructure of our schools.  So that children and young people are able to learn effectively, a virtual learning environment is equally as important. That is why this investment is required so that we can deliver Digital Schools across our region.  In doing so, we can promote equity of opportunity for all learners and provide access to high quality learning and teaching through the creation of an innovative and sustainable teaching and learning solutions.  We recognise the ways young people learn are changing and evolving at an unprecedented rate.  This investment will ensure that we can support learning and teaching for all our staff and pupils.”

Vice Chair of the Education and Learning committee, Ros Surtees, said “Our schools have had to change so much as a result of COVID-19.  Having the technology in place to support the delivery of digital learning for all our young people is essential.  We need to empower, enable and support children and young people to realise their full potential regardless of their circumstances or where they live across Dumfries and Galloway.  I am pleased that we can look to seeing this technology rolled out within our schools so that we can enable a range of learning and teaching practices and approaches including digital, online and remote learning.”