Naace Members have contributed to the DCSF consultation on the proposed Home Access programme. The DCSF sought views on a number of questions during Spring 2008 and the Naace response is published here.

The Naace Newsletter is published on Friday each week (apart from holiday periods) and is sent by email to the membership. It is also published on the Naace website, and builds to form a searchable archive. The Newsletter is seen to be a vital communication link between Naace Members. Not only does it serve to report on the work of Members elected to serve the Association, and that of the Naace professional team, but also provides a means of sharing information from Members who wish to publicise an event, a professional opportunity, research undertaken, or requests for help.

For some time there has been a need to encourage and support teachers aspiring to become or recently appointed as ICT co-ordinators. Martyn Wilson and Janet Roberts of Hampshire County Council have worked with Naace and Nottingham Trent University (NTU) to develop a course aimed at new and aspiring ICT coordinators.

These articles provide information about how to apply to run the course and other details.

e-skills UK is a not-for-profit, employer-led organisation, licensed by government as the Sector Skills Council for IT and Telecoms. Its mission is to ensure the UK has the skills it needs to compete in the global economy. It brings together employers, educators and Government to address the technology-related skills issues no one party can solve on its own. After sharing drafts with members, Naace responded to the e-skills UK consultation on its strategic plan for England, which sought input from all those with an interest in the UK's IT and Telecoms skills base. They were particularly interested in views on its five strategic objectives.

On 18th July 2008, Naace held a one-day think tank to explore and clarify issues surrounding the role of ICT in the Building Schools for the Future programme. This paper is derived from the ensuing discussion.

Naace has already responded to questions in Chapter 3 of the DCSF Staying Safe consultation. In that response we stated: While we recognise that vulnerable children and young people need to be protected and need to learn how they can protect themselves, it is our view that good practice in the safe use of communication technologies should apply to all children in all educational settings. In the context of the Byron Review, we would extend this statement to include the home and other places where children use technology. In our submission to the Byron Review we have focussed on specific questions which most closely match the experience and expertise of our members.

The streamlined approach is designed for schools with 'good' ICT. In such a school, there is likely to be less need to use the self-review framework as a development tool so the focus for them might be to have their self-review validated by an external assessor through a more streamlined approach. The assessment process is exactly the same for all schools; it is simply the preparation/approach that is streamlined.

This year's conference was held on the 4th October at the Coventry Techno Centre. The aim of the day was to develop delegates understanding of how ICT can be used to extend opportunities for learning.The official All Members' Conference 2008 blog is now available to all members.

As the largest event of its type in the ICT calendar the Conference is open to all Naace members and sponsoring partners.