£500,000 hi-tech screens are nation’s best

OLDHAM is leading the way with state-of-the-art high definition video conferencing equipment for all its schools.

Manchester company Videonations has finished installing the biggest contract for video conferencing screens and equipment ever awarded in Europe.

The high definition equipment is installed in all the borough’s 120 schools, including special schools and the pupil referral unit.

The £500,000 initiative will allow teachers to use the equipment in any classroom through interactive whiteboards.

And Videonations’s director of technology, Adrian Hancock, said Oldham’s was the biggest installation in the country.

He said: “There are 8,000 schools in the country with this technology now, but Oldham has the best equipment, it is state-of-the-art, phenomenal.

“Multinational organisations aspire to this standard, this is where they want to be. It really is taking it to the next level.

“The high definition screens are so good it is like having someone in the room with you.”

A council spokesman said the equipment was paid for by the Government’s Standards’ Fund grant.

He added: “We got in first to take advantage of the grant last summer and now every school in the borough has got video conferencing facilities.

“They can be used for modern languages, or story times in primary schools, and even link to museums.”