Guest Posted March 20, 2005 Posted March 20, 2005 HI, just interested to know if preschools ( we are a private one ) qualify for elc's as schools do, as our computer was given to us refurbished and is starting to struggle. We already collect tesco vouchers but need to find ways of raising capital to upgrade our machine. As only a smallish group, find it hard to raise funds. Anyone know of any funding available to help? Thanx Kizzy x
Verona Posted March 20, 2005 Posted March 20, 2005 This is a bit of a sore point for me Kizzy. I had been asking the same question for ages. I have just found out that, here in West Sussex, instead of awarding each setting with an amount of money, they have used the money to buy software themselves and are setting up a 'library' that we can borrow from. I am not pleased with this at all as, none of the settings were consulted or were even aware that they were taking this step until too late. We'll see if we ever get to borrow the software - if our 'Resources' boxes were anything to go by it will be a fiasco -but that's another story!!! The ELC's were supposed to be used for the software and not to buy a computer as far as I am aware. In different parts of the country the settings were given an amount per child towards software, I believe - you might be lucky - I hope you are. Sue J
Guest Posted March 21, 2005 Posted March 21, 2005 Hi Kizzy I recieved a letter from my LEA informing me that we will be recieving money (£300) specifically for ICT. We are a private pre-school in Bucks. Haven't spent it yet as I had to put a list of things and give it to the treasurer, so who knows when that will be. Angie
hali Posted March 22, 2005 Posted March 22, 2005 we recieved ELC money last year in our pre school about £250 i think
Guest Posted March 22, 2005 Posted March 22, 2005 Hi Kizzy I recieved a letter from my LEA informing me that we will be recieving money (£300) specifically for ICT. We are a private pre-school in Bucks. Haven't spent it yet as I had to put a list of things and give it to the treasurer, so who knows when that will be. Angie 27839[/snapback] Hello, Thanks for the info, will phone up my county council and try and find out more. kizzy xx
Guest Posted March 22, 2005 Posted March 22, 2005 Hi It's not just private preschools/nurseries that are having this problem. I got nowhere last year when I looked into this. This year I have been told we don't qualify as we had not had an ofsted inspection before 2003-2004!!?? We didn't have funded four year olds when centre was last inspected. Just been inspected recently (2005) but apparently that does not count. The three other early years centres (local education authority) have all got about £1,300 and we get nothing! Not fair really. Will look in to this further after Easter!
Guest Posted March 22, 2005 Posted March 22, 2005 Leedwa, Nice to know that part of this job is trying to be a detective and piece together the info - I have been trying to find out for about a year now. Why is it that everywhere works differently - so aggravating kizzy xx finally found how to reply without quoting what everyone says... yippee
Guest Posted March 22, 2005 Posted March 22, 2005 Hello me again, Just to update you all - have just come of the phone to my EYDCP Funding Person and they have informed me that they have been sent an email from their financial person about nursery e-learning.... and she has been advised of funds that need to be allocated. how spooky, is that? So I am waiting with baited breath.... won't hold it as she is going on holiday and so is her financial person so in 3 weeks I could have my answer............. keep you posted kizzy xx
Sue R Posted March 24, 2005 Posted March 24, 2005 Our Director has received notification that we will receive in the region of £300.00 per Nursery, but it can only be spent on resources on a specific website. We had been hoping to set one of the children's pcs up for the internet! Never mind, better than nothing! Sue
Guest Posted April 13, 2005 Posted April 13, 2005 So are we Kizzy!! We had to complete a form and send it back in January as to how many children we had in the pre-school who were eligible and did we comply with the criteria, ie we had the hardware to support it, we had funded children etc. etc. We still don't know whether we are going to get any money and I now have more children who are eligible because we are now into another term and extra children are getting funding!! I'm not holding my breath! Linda
Steve Posted April 13, 2005 Posted April 13, 2005 In East Sussex nurseries are being asked to send in forms, as theoretically ELC money ought to be available - but they have to meet certain strange criteria on what computer equipment the nursery possesses... The decision varies greatly depending on the LEA it seems which is fair enough I guess. But it would be good to have some general guidance to turn to! Incidentally, we did at one stage investigate the possibility of having the subscription fee for the FSF paid by ELC's in qualifying settings. Sadly with no luck
Guest Posted April 15, 2005 Posted April 15, 2005 I've heard from our very helpful Eyrs and have been told that you get a£9 per full time child. He couldn't tell me what is classed as a full time child. His exact words were "a full time child is probably equal to two early years children" When I asked what could the ELc's be spent on, I was told only software. No equipment. So if you are a small setting with no pc, or a very basic pc with no extras you can have all the software you need. net x :angry
Andreamay Posted April 15, 2005 Posted April 15, 2005 We decided to raise funds to buy a new computer to enable us to use all the software we bought with elc we were struggling to spend all that was allocated to us yet were desperate for a digital camera and printer/scanner ridiculas!
Guest Posted April 15, 2005 Posted April 15, 2005 why is it that they never think of the obvious...... and how come these days you are expected to download information from websites i.e ofsted, dfes etc as a matter of course. Are they blind? We don't need software..... we need computers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OOOOOHHHH my blood is boiling... kizzy xx
Gezabel Posted April 15, 2005 Posted April 15, 2005 ohh a new button to press- first time I have seen it. My setting has been awarded money but cant remember the figure, What frustrates me is that is has to be spent on software! recent ICT courses I have attended have emphasised how ICT provision encompasses far more than 'computers' SOme brilliant resources availble but yet we can only use money on software. The one thing we dont need is any more software!!!!!
Guest Posted April 17, 2005 Posted April 17, 2005 Totally agree, luckily I was given very old 2 pc's and a scanner by a very generous mum but have no printer to print anything. My children really enjoy making their own piccies using the pc . I know you can pick up printers cheaply but if we have the opportunity to receive money to improve ict in pre schools, we should have the choice as to what we feel would benefit the children. (within reason) Last yr I got 2 games , a lower case keyboard and 2 mini mouses(mice?) with Tesco clubcard vouchers but was 23000, short for a pc and 11000 short for a printer. So software easy to get and if you can download of the net, a very wide variety. When are they going to get real and ask US what we need. Net x
Guest Posted April 20, 2005 Posted April 20, 2005 hello everyone, made a reminder tel call.... letters being sent to all settings 2day or 2morrow....can't wait!!!! kizzy xx
Andreamay Posted April 20, 2005 Posted April 20, 2005 please aware net franklin we too had old computer given us and chose some wonderful software with our elcs but the old computer couldnt cope with the new software and we ended up having to raise funds for a new one.
Guest Posted April 27, 2005 Posted April 27, 2005 hello, me again.... well we finally got the letter, and were awarded £165 to spend on ........... software available from www.curriculumonline.gov.uk ( or whoever). MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm can't find anything I like.... any other sites around? can't see us getting much!!!! kizzy xx
Guest Posted April 27, 2005 Posted April 27, 2005 Thanks for the warning andreamay. Luckily one of our dads is a computer something and upgrade both pc's. We got our letter today and we have been awarded £100 and told to go to same www as Kizzy
Andreamay Posted April 27, 2005 Posted April 27, 2005 you dont have to spend them in one place there is an early years exhibition coming up in manchester a week on friday if you can wait I will look out for other companies and post the details.last year I noticed there were stalls that said you could spends your elc with them. Andrea
Guest Posted April 27, 2005 Posted April 27, 2005 hi andreamay, that would be gr8!!! Thanks. kizzy xx
Sue R Posted April 27, 2005 Posted April 27, 2005 Yes! We also are not enthralled with the choice at curriculumonline !! Sue
Inge Posted April 27, 2005 Posted April 27, 2005 Other places take them... if only we got them......try Pinkcow you can try ffor a term before you buy. we use them and have not yet bought any but get a lot of trials!!! pink cow Inge
Guest Posted April 27, 2005 Posted April 27, 2005 Sherston have a great selection of software and are a Curriculumonline registered retailer. You can find their website here. They too have a trial period of 28 days. They will extend this if you feel you need more time, which is good if you haven't had the best opportunity to use the programs. Linda
hali Posted May 26, 2005 Posted May 26, 2005 just had a new set of forms to fill out for ELCs this year,they just wanted to know if we still had a computer, what memory it had, what it ran with, if we had passed our Ofsted inspection. Funny ......but did not ask how many children we had this year!!!!!
Guest Posted May 26, 2005 Posted May 26, 2005 The curriculumonline website has changed since I last used it. There are a lot of resources on ther, but it took me a hile to follow the links to the foundation satge ones- click on the 'find out about currciulumonline to find the right section (or the link below) http://www.curriculumonline.gov.uk/default...cookie%5Ftest=1 I was under the impression that any software or online resource that you could spend elcs on had to be registered with currciulumonline, or at least have the elc symbol on it. I suppose its worth finding out what software others have found useful - I'm sure there have been previous posts about it. Marie
Andreamay Posted May 27, 2005 Posted May 27, 2005 havent forgotton my promise have a few more websites will dig them out and post over the weekend
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