627:
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Learning. The new online admissions service for both secondary and primary school pupils allowed parents to apply online, increasing peace of mind as an instant email confirmation was sent upon receiving an application, and minimising the possibility of an error as information provided was quickly validated.
488:
Local authorities are closely engaged in the work of the LGfL through regular meetings attended by representatives from all member authorities. The various decisions and activities undertaken by the Trust are guided by the work of nine groups made up of representatives from the LEAs, most notably the
436:
In 2016 John
Jackson was appointed as CEO and focused on intensifying LGfL's "value-added" approach, bundling a wide range of additional services, product licences and content alongside Internet access. By contrast, many other service providers focus on connectivity and compete primarily on price for
268:
In July 2006, the computerised Pan London Co-ordinated
Schools Admissions Scheme, which helped thousands of parents and pupils find the secondary school of their choice, was merged with the online London e-Admissions Project to form the new London Schools Admissions Service within the London Grid for
208:
LGfL's initial purpose was to leverage purchasing power in the provision of broadband and related digital services for all member schools. By aggregating the procurement of infrastructure, e-learning platforms and educational content, London education authorities had by 2010 accrued savings in excess
419:
The service proved popular and potential claims exceeded £40M a year by 2023 providing additional resources for schools , particularly in areas of social and economic deprivation. Peak claims came during the COVID pandemic at over £50M per annum reflecting the hardship and difficulties families were
361:
Instead of a distributed 'star' system of connections, Equinox proposed the use of two central 'core' locations and a series of nodal loops – running across a combination of 100 Mbit/s and 1 Gbit/s devices – providing broadband access at every connection point. It used dual 9.6 Gbit/s
220:
Though a local authority led approach proved useful in the early planning stages by 2000 it became clear that a corporate body in the form of a charitable trust would better serve the children and schools in London and in particular the roll out of the broadband and digital services. The Trust was
163:
LGfL was founded in 2001 to advance education in particular by providing and assisting in the provision of information and communications to London schools for the benefit of the children attending those schools. LGfL's remit has been extended following approval by the
Charities Commission in
484:
The Trust is a charitable company limited by guarantee, and all 33 London
Councils collectively own and share in its governance. The executive board of trustees is composed of representative directors of children's services and local authority officers responsible for the implementation of ICT in
212:
LGfL was one of 8 local authority led consortiums formed across the country in the late 1990s to access government grants with the aim of providing every school with broadband as part of the
National Grid for Learning. It was part of the government's Broadband in Schools Programme, a five-year
465:
In 2023 LGfL purchased 14,000 kilometres of fibre from Virgin Media O2 to enable delivery of very high speeds to be delivered to schools over the following next 15 years. LGfL’s acquisition of fibre was approved by a
Statutory Instrument by Parliament following approval by the Department for
456:
To enable the move to remote learning and cloud platforms LGfL, working in partnership with Virgin Media, more than doubled the bandwidth available to schools and offered a free filtering solution to schools (HomeProtect) which at its peak was protecting an estimated 250,000 children working
389:
On 31 March 2011, after the ten-year contract with the 2,600 schools ended, institutions were free to negotiate IT contracts individually. It was reported that over 1,000 schools signed up to LGfL 2.0 shortly afterwards. By 2014 over 2,000 schools across London had been connected to LGfL 2.0
216:
The London consortium was driven by the
Association of London Chief Education Officers (subsequently the Association of London Directors of Children’s Services) with both Havering and Hackney councils playing a part in the early planning. Paul Robinson, the then Director of Education for the
175:
to advance community development by assisting local authorities to integrate services through broadband and other communications technology to provide services more efficiently and at lower cost to the recipients of services particularly the elderly, vulnerable individuals and the
235:
A ten-year contract to supply broadband connection to all schools worth £40m was awarded to
Equinox Converged Solutions. To fund the project, Chief Executive Brian Durrant announced that surplus bandwidth would be sold off to other organisations, including non-educational ones.
385:
In 2011, the contract with
Equinox ended and LGfL agreed a deal with Virgin Media. Virgin replaced the old legacy network with a new 40 Gbit/s network known as LGfL 2.0. The new deal reduced the cost of a 100 Mbit/s connection to just a third of the former price tag.
452:
During COVID 19, the
Department for Education awarded a contract to train and support teachers across England to harness remote learning and make use of cloud platforms from Google and Microsoft. An estimated 100,000 teachers and educators benefitted from the initiative.
423:
However, controversy erupted in October 2015 after it emerged that LGfL's spam filtering system had blocked marketing emails from a competitor. LGfL advised that these emails had been automatically flagged as junk mail, however this was disputed by the competing firm.
171:
to advance health by assisting in the provision of broadband and other communications technology to encourage the better integration of services between local authorities and the national health service in the provision of adult social and other care;
1127:
448:
LGfL launched a national procurement for laptops during COVID 19 as part of an initiative called BridgeTheDivide which resulted in over 200,000 new and refurbished laptops being delivered to schools during the pandemic.
152:, filtering and safeguarding services, devices and software and licences. LGfL started in London but is now a nationwide organisation winning multiple awards such as ERA Education Supplier of the Year (not for profit).
1112:
147:
commonly referred to as LGfL is a British not for profit technology company with headquarters in central London. The charity founded in 2001 procures, develops and delivers technology and educational content including
427:
The competitor also stated that they believed unfair pressure had been applied to encourage schools to remain with LGfL. LGfL subsequently wrote to schools apologising for having conveyed this impression.
415:
In 2014 LGfL commissioned the development of a Free School Meals Checker to enable parents and carers to claim free school meals for their children, and schools to confirm eligibility for Pupil Premiums.
469:
In the same year LGfL awarded a contract worth up to £30M to Community Fibre to enable the delivery of resilient fibre connections to schools as copper was deemed inadequate for modern school networks.
440:
LGfL acquired the National Grid for Learning (NGfL) trademark in 2017 to reflect the expansion across England, and trademarked SuperCloud to underpin its future service offering to schools and MATs.
168:
to advance education, in particular, by providing and assisting in the provision of information and communications technology (including broadband) for the benefit of children attending schools; and
280:
In 2007 LGfL set up a trading company (London Grid Limited) to provide connectivity and services to Local Authorities including the provision of internet connectivity for Councils across London.
1122:
936:
473:
LGfL has trademarked LGfL SkyNet to support the rollout of satellite connections to schools which has proven cost effective for rural areas and towns poorly served by broadband in England.
253:, who had outlined a vision the use of IT in schools in his 1997 report 'Connecting the Learning Society', described the launch of the LGfL as a 'defining moment' in realising that dream.
217:
Wandsworth Borough Council became Chairman of the LGfL Consortium. Brian Durrant was appointed as CEO. John Jackson was seconded from Camden Council to lead on Technology Strategy.
1097:
205:
LGfL’s origins can be traced to the late 1990s when local authorities in London combined to access government grants to provide broadband and digital services for schools.
296:
250:
239:
The project combining broadband and content for London schools was officially unveiled in an event hosted by Digitalbrain PLC, LGFL's portal partner, at London's
861:
495:
The inaugural Chief Executive of LGfL was Brian Durrant, who in July 2015 announced he would retire the following year and was succeded as CEO by John Jackson.
221:
therefore created in 2001 with the appointment to the Board of Trustees mainly with a mix of local authority, educational and technological experience.
155:
In 2023 LGfL acquired 14,000 kilometres of fibre and in 2024 joined the London Internet Exchange (LINX) to become a fully fledged Internet Service Provider.
988:
835:
377:
area to provide a local switching point for the eastern LEAs. Ten million metres of fibreoptic cable were laid to create the core rings of the network.
534:
345:
962:
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588:
492:
The day-to-day operation of the company is the responsibility of the Chief Executive who is accountable to the executive board and other boards.
197:
Today around 1.3 million children and 250,000 teachers across thousands of UK schools and public sector bodies are served by the Trust.
1014:
937:"LGfL, Education Foundation and Sheffield Institute of Education appointed to role of delivery partner in national DfE EdTech strategy"
29:
407:
As part of the new contract with Virgin Media LGfL launched a national service for schools and Multi Academy Trusts called Trustnet.
243:
cinema in June 2001, and the network went live for the first 350 schools on 1 September 2001. At the time it was the fourth largest
806:
539:
1092:
1043:
911:"Schools to benefit from 'below-cost' laptops for remote learning as they prepare for potential new year Omicron closures"
509:
504:
135:
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683:
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Levelling up. The subsequent addition of LGfL, as a charitable body, to the Central Register was the first of its kind.
529:
404:. In 2014, LGfL extended its deal with Virgin for £1 billion, with the new contract expected to run until 2028.
272:
The London Admissions service has subsequently expanded to include reception age children and several Home Counties.
756:
728:
Wickham, Chris. "E-admissions System Will Give Parents More Choice." This Is Local London, 4 August 2006, News sec.
519:
190:
tackling educational inequality through its resources for children with disabilities and special educational needs
558:
355:
354:
The original network laid in 2000 across the 2,600 schools, colleges and libraries was designed and delivered by
244:
149:
256:
The initial strategic goal of LGfL of connecting every member school was achieved in 2005, thus fully meeting
628:"London Grid for Learning Trust Trustees Report and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31st March 2022"
400:
In January 2011, following the end of the ten-year broadband deal with Equinox, LGfL signed a contract with
363:
232:
with the purpose of enabling LEAs to act jointly in the procurement of services and letting of contracts.
225:
476:
By this point the Pan London Admissions services had also expanded to include reception age children.
737:
Meredith, Simon. "Equinox Scoops Innovator Award for Education Grid." Computing, 7 November 2002, 18.
807:"London Grid for Learning to save schools a total of £16m and deliver 'more for less' to UK Schools"
746:
Arnott, Sarah. "IT Is Putting the United in the United Kingdom." Computing, 12 September 2002, 43.
374:
55:
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603:"Showstopper LGfL-The National Grid for Learning scoops three ERA Awards and more"
367:
1040:
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28:
782:"Computing - The UK's leading source for the analysis of business technology"
836:"Virgin Media Business to Rollout Ultra-High-Speed Broadband to UK Schools"
489:
executive, editorial and E-safety board, and the technical steering group.
209:
of £390m, compared to the cost of securing those services individually.
989:"ISP Community Fibre to Supply London Schools with a Full Fibre Backup"
213:
project with the aim of providing every school with broadband by 2006.
559:"Former Camden CIO John Jackson to head up London Grid for Learning"
862:
London Schools Extend PSN Deal with Virgin Media Business for £1bn
514:
910:
666:"Broadband Consortium Brings Broadband to 2,500 London Schools."
184:
energising teaching and learning through LGfL’s content portfolio
1128:
Information technology organisations based in the United Kingdom
1015:"LGfL plans new high speed broadband network for London schools"
240:
781:
524:
1113:
Educational technology academic and professional associations
642:
Report on the Value For Money of the London Grid For Learning
260:'s challenge of 'every school on broadband' a year early.
963:"VM O2 and Community Fibre net London school infra deals"
882:"Budget broadband deal emails hidden from London schools"
702:
Fielding, Rachel. "London Schools Get Ethernet Access."
1087:
1050:" London Grid for Learning. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
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757:"London Grid For Learning | Virgin Media Business"
684:London Grid for Learning 2014 Financial Statements
589:"LONDON GRID FOR LEARNING TRUST - Charity 1090412"
1123:Governmental educational technology organizations
81:Broadband, Filtering, Safeguarding, Cybersecurity
180:The Trust aims to realise these objectives by:
868:. 19 December 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
690:. 9 September 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
349:Location of three main cores in Greater London
905:
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8:
830:
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21:
362:Ethernet fibre connections between hubs in
47:Paul Robinson, Brian Durrant, John Jackson
27:
20:
535:Glow (Scottish Schools National Intranet)
653:"Broadband Receives Stamp of Approval."
303:
187:keeping schools and children safe online
550:
317:
73:9th Floor, 10 Exchange Square, EC2A 2BR
1061:"2015 | Ealing Grid for Learning"
876:
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373:A third 'core' was set up in London's
331:
16:British educational technology company
411:Free School Meals Eligibility Checker
7:
915:Government and Public Sector Journal
698:
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678:
676:
510:East of England Broadband Consortium
1041:About the London Grid for Learning
14:
530:East of England Broadband Network
264:London Schools Admissions Service
655:The Times Educational Supplement
540:Hwb (Digital Learning for Wales)
330:
316:
302:
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1098:London Public Services Network
644:. Wandsworth Council. 2010. 5.
230:London Grid for Learning Trust
224:In April 2001, LGfL created a
1:
1093:Pan London Admissions project
761:www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk
505:Regional Broadband Consortium
136:Regional Broadband Consortium
420:facing during the pandemic.
461:Recent developments (2023-)
356:Equinox Converged Solutions
1144:
520:National Grid for Learning
715:"Schools Get Connected."
245:metropolitan area network
133:
26:
1088:London Grid for Learning
719:, 2 July 2001, News sec.
145:London Grid for Learning
22:London Grid for Learning
1046:24 October 2015 at the
607:westmidconnected.co.uk
381:Transition to LGfL 2.0
226:special purpose entity
811:The Educator Magazine
150:broadband connections
62:Registration no.
717:This Is Local London
346:class=notpageimage|
193:promoting well-being
1118:Education in London
941:Education Executive
786:www.computing.co.uk
706:, 25 July 2002, 17.
437:this core service.
276:London Grid Limited
23:
1021:. 21 February 2024
995:. 20 February 2024
969:. 23 November 2023
860:Du Preez, Derek. "
688:Charity Commission
943:. 28 January 2020
888:. 27 October 2015
866:Computer World UK
813:. 1 December 2015
657:, 9 June 2000, 5.
444:LGfL and COVID 19
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251:Dennis Stevenson
56:Charitable trust
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91:John Jackson
70:Headquarters
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1070:31 December
892:19 December
791:19 December
766:19 December
111:£35,599,000
1107:Categories
993:ISP Review
846:29 January
817:29 January
612:31 October
568:29 October
546:References
480:Governance
457:remotely.
364:Park Royal
258:Tony Blair
228:named the
159:Objectives
134:Member of
840:ISPReview
704:Computing
485:schools.
375:Docklands
176:disabled.
107:Revenue
36:Formation
1044:Archived
886:BBC News
499:See also
395:Trustnet
284:Services
97:Chairman
78:Services
44:Founders
201:History
126:Website
117:Staff
65:1090412
515:WMnet
1072:2022
1027:2024
1001:2024
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949:2024
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894:2022
848:2024
819:2024
793:2022
768:2022
614:2023
570:2023
366:and
241:IMAX
143:The
52:Type
39:2001
525:C2k
172:and
87:CEO
1109::
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