Each of our services has monitoring processes embedded which show us where we are making an impact and where the service can improve further.  Below are some examples of where we are monitoring our impact and some of our recommendations for development in the next 2 years.

Working with Schools to Improve IT Literacy

In 2005, 144 primary school children engaged in our after schools programmes.  Teachers reported that children responded positively to the opportunities to learn in a creative context in ways that complimented the curriculum but provided freedom for creative expression.  A number of children with Special Educational Needs reported finding opportunities to explore and learn in new ways via the creative clubs.  Our schools programme has highlighted the challenges of getting parents involved in ICT learning, with parents reporting they felt already too far behind their children’s IT capability.  We will be working with local schools over the next year to build awareness of community based learning programmes for parents, and also working with the adult education service to deliver a ‘Keeping up with the Kids’ programme.  We are also supporting local mother and toddler groups to introduce family learning to their sessions.

Using Cutting Edge Technology to Raise Young People’s Aspirations

Our FreqOUT! project illustrated the power of emergent technologies as a tool for engagement, learning and raising the aspirations of young people.  Our 4 pilot workshops in 2005, engaged 32 young people, of whom 14 had previously experienced homelessness and 44% were from of BME backgrounds.  24 accreditations were awarded and the young people with the opportunity to exhibit their final artwork in esteemed venues including the Institute of Contemporary Arts and Trafalgar Square.  A number of the young people are working with us to develop the next phase of the project, whilst others have established their own production company and have sold their first commission.  An unintended impact of this project was the generosity of our corporate sponsors (Vertex and Capgemini) in giving, not just their technical expertise, but staff time to working with and mentoring the young people.  Going forward we are working with these partners to harness further the possibilities for staff volunteering and mentoring. 

Focusing on Older People

Our outreach training programmes are having a significant impact on the quality of life of older people in priority neighbourhoods.  63 older residents have engaged with our learning programmes and our Silver Café has been a real hit with participants reporting that access to and training on Internet use has provided them with opportunities to connect with family members, order shopping online, bid for properties using the online choice based lettings service and access online sources of health advice.

Responding to Community Priorities

Working with the Church Street Neighbourhood Management Team we developed a project which responded to the neighbourhood priority of environmental improvement and looking after local public spaces.  Our Community Development team at Greenside developed a ‘Greenfingers’ programme which saw 670 residents access activities in the summer of 2005.  The community support for these initiatives boosted our bid to the Lottery (CRED) to deliver a 2 year Neighbourhood Recycling and Environmental Awareness project across 5 Westminster Estates.  We have been successful in securing the funds and are looking forward to working with local residents and volunteers to make this project a reality over the next 2 years.

Serving the Need for Lifelong Learning

More than 1200 participants undertook a minimum of 30 hours guided learning at Queens Park New Media Centre and Firststep.com in 2005. The programmes included animation, web design, digital photography, graphic design, lm-making and music technology. We achieved 20% growth in the number of learners participating through growth in our outreach services via mobile teaching suites.  One of the challenges we identified in 2005 was the limitations of our management information system in helping us to segment our learning community – techniques which could help us to be more effective in our programme design and in our ability to fundraise for particular segments.  In the final quarter of 2005 we conducted a comprehensive system requirements review and have secured funding via UK Online (Ufi) to develop a new Learner Management Information System.  Development and implementation of this new system will be one of our key priorities for the year ahead.  We look forward to this system enabling us to respond to learner needs more precisely and to track their progression further.