Every school and academy across the country can now benefit from a truly personalised ICT solution tailored to the needs of staff and students with Northgate Managed Services. Building upon its significant experience working with Building Schools for the Future programmes in Leicester, Kent and Bristol, Northgate is now working with a plethora of exceptional centres of learning, including Trent Valley Academy in Gainsborough, Bristol Cathedral Choir School in Bristol, Havelock Academy in Grimsby and Litherland High School and Abraham Guest High School, one school BSF Pathfinder projects school in Sefton and Wigan. Every school has its own development and improvement plan so Northgate takes a flexible approach to solutions and designs the service to each school's needs. Appreciating the individuality of every school and the concept that one size doesn't fit all, Northgate's team works closely with the leadership team from the outset to foster a flexible, dynamic partnership to support this vision and ultimately help to transform learning. Northgate's services are built from a number of key components including infrastructure design and installation, device and software procurement, service desk, problem and incident management, infrastructure management and remote management and monitoring. The service is designed to meet the needs of the school and can also include elements of outsourcing of technical and support staff.

Northgate believes it is employed to challenge as well as support a school's ICT provision so it is vital that there is a constant two-way dialogue. Both parties need to be continuously engaged and challenge each other every step of the process to improve ICT provision. For example, Northgate's team will analyse the efficiency of existing resources before making recommendations for new technology so believe feedback from the school about the current efficiency, usage and uptake of technologies is vital. Northgate's approach to TUPE (whereby school ICT technicians work directly for the company) is helping to improve standards, ensure a smooth transition for ICT and ultimately transfer risk, establishing confidence across the school community. As schools face the challenge of developing a shared vision for ICT, this approach ensures that Northgate's team of professionals gain a much deeper understanding of the different ICT needs and issues experienced by individual schools. It also helps to build a solid working relationship imperative for successful change management. Working alongside school technicians from such an early point also means that extensive evaluation of existing resources can be carried out to ensure best value for the school.