Ruffwood @ Home

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Project Details

Ruffwood School, in partnership with Northwood SRB and Jupiter IT, have provided 100 brand new computers and printers for students and their families living in the Northwood community of Kirkby. Northwood is a priority regeneration area and scores badly on most counts of deprivation. With the outstanding help of Knowsley MBC, and Telewest Communications the project has also provided free Internet access for their students. After many months of experimentation and hard work, a groundbreaking model of Internet access is now available to students in their homes.

Knowsley Council acts as an Internet provider to each household, bringing the benefits of a fast 24-hour Internet connection; a replication of Internet service as experienced by students in school (similar safety barriers); capacity for parents to request details for how their students use the Internet and to have control over their use; and access to the Knowsley Learning Place (the new Intranet schools resource).

Independent evaluators have highlighted Ruffwood @ Home as an exemplar SRB project in terms of efficiency, innovation and linkage.

Facts

• Northwood is a Single Regeneration Budget area (along with areas of Huyton, Toxteth and Kensington).
• There are approximately 600 Northwood residents benefiting form this project.
• Nearly all Ruffwood @ Home students use email regularly.
• Many are excellent users of MSN Instant Messaging service.
• The computers and Internet are mainly used for schoolwork.
• ALL 100 computers have been looked after and cared for.
• One Ruffwood @ Home student won a £35 voucher for being the top user of the Same Learning web site (80 hours!).
• Communication between school staff, students and parents, is increasing through email.
• Students, who left Ruffwood and the project, reported improved ICT skills because of their home computer. Most of them also said that the rest of the family used the computer and Internet, and that it helped with schoolwork.
• Initial findings suggest the home computer and Internet is impacting positively on attainment.

News