It builds on the existing investment by the schools in personal computer networks and totally integrates with it.

One primary school in the town spends about £3,000 per annum on IT equipment which is less than 1% of its total budget. It is not adequate but would struggle to spend more. A smaller primary school spends about the same percentage but the figure is smaller. If primary schools can only spend less than one percent of their budget on IT, then they need additional funding through sponsorship. This project provides some of this needed sponsorship.

Junior students are at their most impressionable age. Five, 6 and 7 are recognised as best for foreign languages and this applies to other topics such as IT. This age shows an explosion in student knowledge and learning ability, are we going to say we can’t afford it?

Two government initiatives, the Special Needs Code of Practice and the Anti-bullying Campaign, are operating with no recognised training content. In contrast the LEN project has a training element in its costs which makes it very powerful. Without training the equipment is put into a cupboard.

For 2 million years or 50,000 generations children have learned from their parents. It is only in the last 7 generations that society has placed this responsibility on others. LEN brings this long human tradition back with the access to knowledge systems from home as well as school.

The opportunities to share policies and approaches between the Letchworth schools brings a local identity.

Students familiar in the use of such a system will have developed attributes desirable by employers, including self-motivation, self-sufficiency, discrimination, research ability, presentation and communication skills, awareness of the world and its trends, together with a capability in advanced information technology systems ready to be put into use by industry.