PARENTS in Trafford will be able to keep a watchful eye on their children’s education – thanks to a new system being installed in the borough’s schools.

The council has signed a contract with web specialists Fronter to install a new online system which enables pupils, parents and teachers to access a variety of information from home.

Jim Gilmour, e-learning consultant for Trafford, said parents will be able to check their children’s results, progress and attendance records online.

The first step of the scheme, which will be up and running in Trafford’s 68 primary, 12 secondary and four special schools by September, will not include this option, but Mr Gilmour says the firm hopes to have the full system in place by 2010.

Two schools which are already using parts of the system are Lostock College in Stretford and Altrincham Grammar School for Boys.

Dawn Farrent, headteacher at Lostock, said: "Most schools have an intranet that the pupils can access, and this makes it much easier for them.

"Parents are already able to use it to see what homework their children have been set in any given week, so the kids can’t get away with telling their parents they haven’t got any.

"In general, I think it is a good thing. It is a good way for parents to be able to easily access information that they could not get before without ringing or going to the school."

Altrincham Grammar School for Boys said it was already using the system to set, mark and return homework online, without having to use any paper.

Headteacher Tim Gartside said: "It has been working very well and has proved particularly useful in our ICT and technology departments. We are also finding it a quick and easy way of getting students’ opinions about different things. We can start up a questionnaire online and get students to fill it in, and we then get immediate feedback."

Mr Gartside added the school hoped to further develop the parental interaction side of the system.

"We want to be able to involve the parents and let them see what is going on and how their children are doing," he said.

"We will also be able to use it to interact with other schools – for example, our science department could share resources with those of other schools. I think it is a tremendous tool, and it is great because, being an all-boys school, it is very much geared to the interests of our pupils."

Mr Gilmour said: "We are installing this tool as part of a wider government agenda to promote learning through the use of digital classrooms.

"We could have had a system now allowing parents to monitor their children’s progress, but it did not offer as many teaching and learning opportunities, which at the moment are our main priority.

"But it will come in in the future."

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