GRA has been a successful Cisco Regional Academy since December 1998, being the first regional academy to be located within the school sector. GRA has amalgamated with two other regional academies: Leigh Technology Academy and Carmel RC Technology College in order to offer the highest quality of service to our consortia members. We provide training and support to meet the needs of clients, encouraging effective delivery of the academy programme to its 60 plus schools, 4 colleges and a university. Once trained in these courses, the staff are equipped to use the material to deliver a range of ICT vocational courses backed by QCA, LSC, ELWA and DCSF which will provide "Attainment Table", UCAS points and funding for the institution. At the present time the area covered by the consortia extends from Maesteg in the west to Lowestoft in the east, the Isle of Wight in the south and Middlesbrough in the north and all areas in between.
GRA has been used as a reference point for over ten years as an example of good practice by Cisco, who refer other potential academies to GRA for initial contact and guidance. The growth of GRA has been fully supported by Cisco as we are known to give the highest level of support and training required by the local academies. Further to this members of the GRA team have acted as consultants for other regionals to help enhance their performa
nce.
In addition to this GRA staff have worked with and represented Cisco at a number of UK based events, and spoken at a number of international conferences including; Paris, Copenhagen, Dubai, Johannesburg, San Diego and Sofia. In 2002 J.S. O'Neill MSc was recognised by Cisco for his contribution to the Academy Program by being named the recipient of Instructor of the Year. This prestigious award is given to instructors who demonstrate a strong commitment to the program and its growth and devleopment.
Support for local academies
It is important for local academies to feel secure in the knowledge that should they have areas of concern they can turn to their regional academy for help. Support for academies is by way of termly visits, an annual conference, email, Skype, Messenger and phone.
In terms of support Cisco have within their QA documentation certain requirements in terms of access to the regional and the number of visits and Quality Assurance visits / reports made. GRA exceeds the normal requirements and consequently visits are made prior to signing up, assistance in setting up, within a month of start of delivery, two further visits a year and a bi- annual QA visit. The local academy can call upon additional support as required in order to meet specific needs. In addition there is 24/7 access to mobile phone, Skype, MSN and Internet based phone support, with email support and a guaranteed response within one business day.
Lastly an annual conference is offered which addresses issues specific to the present developments taking place within the academy programme, enhancing networking, with the last two being held at Bedfont Lakes