Prime Minister Opens Landmark 'Learning Centre' at Newcastle United FC
Novell Powers Newcastle United Football Club Learning Centre
- "Best education resource in world football" say rival clubs
- Over £1.6m investment in state-of-the-art community ICT education centre
UK - 3 November 2000:
 Prime Minister Tony Blair will today (3 November) officially open the best football education resource in world football at Newcastle United Football Clubs St James Park stadium.
Over £1.6million has been invested in Newcastle Uniteds Learning Centre, which will provide courses in information and communications technology (ICT) to 1,000 children and 1,000 adults every week. Sixty Internet-equipped, networked PCs with video cameras have been installed in the purpose-built Centre, which is based in St James Parks newly-refurbished Milburn Stand.
A cutting-edge Video Learning Suite will also enable students to see and talk to their peers and other tutors at similar locations around the world via the latest video-conferencing technology.
Newcastle United chief executive David Stonehouse said: The Prime Minister himself first championed the idea of linking football with education through the Playing For Success initiative. Newcastle United was one of the pilot sites for this scheme and we think he will be extremely pleased to see how it has developed here.
Using the pivotal influence of Newcastle United Football Club, the medium of football and state-of-the-art technology, the new Learning Centre will stand as a beacon for learning excellence throughout the world of football.
Our partnership on this project with Newcastle City Council, the Department for Education & Employment (DfEE) and our sponsors has created a resource which will provide huge benefits for our local community.
Over £600,000 of sponsorship has been provided by leading global ICT companies, along with additional support from the European Social Fund and European Regional Development Fund.
The Learning Centre will offer online educational opportunities to children from all 110 schools within the city of Newcastle from 8am to late evening, six days a week.
Schools apply for session time at the Centre, with classes spending around two hours at St James Park every week over a six-week period.
Tutors from Newcastle College, the University of Newcastle and the University of Northumbria will run the courses, alongside two full-time Centre-based teachers and other specialists.
Adults will also have the chance to learn new IT skills seven days a week through a variety of courses, from bite size to accredited online packages, and can drop-in at any time. Working in collaboration with Newcastle College, the University of Newcastle and the University of Northumbria, the Learning Centre has already won the UFI/Learndirect kitemark for adult learning provision.
Learning Centre manager Phil McBride said: Weve had visitors from other football clubs around the UK, Europe and beyond, and they tell us that our Learning Centre is by far the best education facility in world football.
Our Learning Centre offers a fun, non-traditional education environment that local children and adults are excited to visit. This enthusiasm, coupled with the technology we have in the Centre, creates a highly-effective forum for learning which were sure will translate into tangible benefits for all involved.
Newcastle United FC Learning Centre Sponsorship Information
The following companies are sponsors of the Newcastle United FC Learning Centre
Novell
As Newcastle United Football Club already operate its own computer network using Novell technology, the opportunity to provide Novell's Net services software as the high-performance infrastructure for the Club's new Learning Centre was enthusiastically supported by everyone involved in the project.
Working with Sx3, Novell's expert system integration partner in the North East, the suite of Novell software provided a highly reliable and robust network with fast and secure access to the Internet, easy-to-configure e-mail facilities and a sophisticated 'desktop management' capability.
Phil McBride at the Learning Centre found the 'desktop management' software, Novell ZENworks, particularly useful. Instead of having to manually load different sets of software onto the PCs for different classes and age groups, ZENworks can be pre-set to automatically deliver and update software and files to each PC. This keeps the changeover time between different learning sessions as short as possible so that more children and adults can benefit from the Learning Centre.
Intel
As part of Intel's commitment to education, it has worked closely with Newcastle Football Club in order to kit the Learning Centre out with the very latest computer equipment. Intel has provided 60 Intel Pentium ® III Processor equipped PC's, all with Intel Create and Share web cameras, which will enable the children and adults using the centre to send pictures of themselves via email for example. All the PCs are based around the latest Intel 815E chipset based motherboard with integrated Intel networking controller and Intel has also provided print and storage capabilities. An Intel Express 460T switch will enable them to link 60 PC's together in to a network making it easy to share information and to manage and load new software.
Intel's global Innovation in Education initiative is a multi-million dollar effort to help realise the possibilities of science and technology in education. As part of this initiative Intel launched Intel Teach to the Future in the UK earlier this year. Intel is equipping 20 Regional Training Centres in the UK (mainly in schools), similar to the centre in Newcastle and aims to train as many as 100,000 teachers by 2003. The training they receive aims to help teachers develop the skills to use the power of computer technology in THEIR day-to-day teaching. It helps them to expand the boundaries of their creativity and the creativity of their students, beyond the walls of the classroom and to turn the power of computer technology into teaching tools that will captivate students and motivate them.
adidas
As part of our partnership with Newcastle Unites, adidas - the number one soccer brand in the world - are pleased to continue our association with the NUFC Learning Centre. The commitment of the club and its partners to this pioneering venture is leading the way in todays global football industry. The educational facilities provided for adults and children are state-of-the-art and provide an important link for the club and adidas to the wider community.
Manpower
Manpower, the UKs largest employment services agency, is a sponsor of the Newcastle United Support Centre at St James Park.
People who register at the learning centre will benefit from:
Access to Manpowers Global Learning Centre, which offers a wide range of training packages, from PC training to management, sales and marketing skills.
Information on the local job market, including advice on how people can make themselves more marketable, the transition into employment and practical support such as CV preparation.
Easy access to the staff and facilities at Manpowers office, located at 16-18 Hood Street, which is a short walk from St James Park - allowing people to make things happen quickly.
.Sinergy / Steelcase
Steelcase, the worlds largest office furniture manufacturer, in partnership with its dealer, Sinergy, has created a unique learning environment which it has donated to Newcastle Uniteds Study Support Centre. Using purely Steelcase products, Richard Powley, workplace consultant with Sinergy, has designed and overseen the installation of a learning environment which straddles the gap between school and office.
The centre is designed to support learning and not intimidate anyone unfamiliar with an office environment, says Powley. It is a friendly environment which separates adults and children so that it can cater for the needs of each group. In addition, it allows total flexibility. As the needs of the centre change, the interior can be reconfigured easily using the same furniture.
The environment we have created is the ultimate in hot-desking. With 1,000 adults and 1,000 children using the centre each week we have had to ensure that the workstations are robust, immediately comfortable for everyone, whilst supporting the IT requirements and a paperless environment, says Powley.
Epson
EPSON UK ltd is ensuring that visitors to the centre will be able to learn about and use the latest imaging and printing technologies available for homes and businesses today. Visitors can take advantage of the latest revolution in digital photography with the EPSON Photo PC 850Z and print outstanding photo prints on the Stylus Color 900N or the Stylus Color 1160. Pictures can also be scanned using the EPSON Perfection 1200S, a high performance scanner for ultra fast high quality performance.
EPSONs mono lasers for A4 and A3 printing will also be used at the centre alongside the EPL-C8200 colour laser, ensuring that visitors can print professional documents for any occasion.
Tony Petford, Marketing Director at EPSON UK says The Newcastle United FC Learning Centre allows companies like EPSON the opportunity to bring the latest technological advances into Education, ensuring that they are enjoyed by children and adults who will in turn be able to apply the skills they learn to the workplace and to the home.
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Newcastle College
Newcastle College is one of the largest and most successful colleges in the North East. This, together with its excellent reputation for education and training, made it an obvious choice to work in partnership with NUFC to provide a full range of courses at their new, state-of-the-art learning centre.
Newcastle College is working hard to make education more accessible and enjoyable for adult learners. The new learning centre is a part of this initiative, with the College providing adult learners with a wide range of courses which run during the day, evening and at weekends to offer maximum flexibility for students.
The centres students will benefit from Newcastle Colleges expert and professional tutors. The students here today are either surfing the net with their tutor, Andrew Stothard, working on a computer literacy programme with tutor Michael Leach, or brushing up their English and Maths skills with help from tutor Alan Boyd.
Courses cover subjects such as information technology and the Internet, and programmes for adults who wish to improve their communication, literacy and numeracy skills. Students will also be able to study Learn Direct courses, as the Learning Centre is part of University for Industry, the Governments flagship for lifelong learning.
Sx3
Sx3 provided the consultancy to design and implement the IT infrastructure behind the new Learning in the Community Centre at St Jamess Park. This involved the installation of Novells leading networking products including the Netware 5.1 operating system, Groupwise 5.5 mail system and Bordermanagers Enterprise Edition firewall. In addition, the latest version of Novells zero effort networking solution ZENworks 3 has been deployed. During their time spent at the centre, SX3s consultants based from our Newcastle Office worked closely with the in-house IT staff to transfer their skills ensuring the smooth operation of the centre going forward into the future.
Launched in September 1998, Sx3 is a company on the upward track. Specialists in IT and business process outsourcing, the organisation has just exceeded its three year targets for growth and turnover, 18 months ahead of schedule. Employing over 1200 people in Great Britain and Ireland, Sx3 currently services over 3000 customers. Its impressive new headquarters on the outskirts of Belfast are, at 55,000 square feet, ranked as Irelands largest open plan office building.
Novell Powers Newcastle United Football Club Learning Centre
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