Newcastle City Council has awarded a managed IT services deal covering 16 local schools.

The contract with vendor Dell, part of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, will create a high availability system to support administration, personal learning and examinations for 15,000 pupils.

Lorraine Dixon, client services manager for IT at Newcastle, says technology is increasingly playing an integral role in the continued improvement of the city's attainment.

'It is becoming integrated into the delivery of the curriculum within each school. With essential additional funding from BSF there will be marked improvements to overall accessibility of IT,' she said.

The BSF programme is an effort by the Department for Education and Skills to upgrade every school's IT and buildings over the next 15 years. It is expected to cost the government around £3bn a year.

Detailed preparation for the project is expected to be complete by November this year, with all systems expected to be fully working by March 2009.

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