European Electronique gets free school place
VAR wins contract to supply West London Free School's ICT
VAR European Electronique has scooped a five-year deal to design, implement and manage the ICT needs of the West London Free School in Hammersmith.
The school was the first free school to sign a funding agreement with education secretary Michael Gove and is due to open this September. Under the deal European Electronique will supply an IT system based on Microsoft Office 365 and including email, office web applications, storage and SharePoint services.
Both staff and pupils will benefit from anywhere/anytime access to both applications and data.
Toby Young, founder of the West London Free School, said: “The West London Free School will provide a traditional, grammar-school curriculum to a genuinely comprehensive group of children and in order to do that effectively it will need to be as imaginative and innovative as possible in its approach to teaching and learning.
“That means an effective ICT system is absolutely essential. We have chosen European Electronique as our strategic ICT partner as the company demonstrated a very clear understanding of our school and the challenges we face, and put forward a highly innovative solution that represents excellent value for money.”
Yolanta Gill, chief executive of European Electronique, said: “It is very exciting to be involved in one of the first free schools to open in England. We believe all eyes will be on the school’s development and ICT will play an important role in helping the school achieve its goals.
“Working closely with the Microsoft team and implementing one of the first instances of Office 365 for education underpins our innovative approach and determination to push the boundaries of new technologies.”
Steve Beswick, head of Microsoft UK Education, added: “We have been working closely with the West London Free School, helping to develop innovative thinking around new delivery models for ICT. We are delighted that European Electronique has been awarded this project and we will be supporting them all the way.”