Online secondary school transfers - no computer required!

Looking Local works with Birmingham City Council to allow applications for schools via the TV, wii and mobile phones.

Parents are increasingly using the internet as a way of supporting and interacting with their children's education and school admissions services. Now, thanks to a new service from Digital Birmingham in partnership with Looking Local, families without computers can take advantage of the online schools admissions service and the associated benefits in speed and clarity of communication.

This year for the first time, parents of children transferring to secondary school in September 2011 will be able to make their applications on TV, mobile and even by using the Nintendo Wii, by using Birmingham City Council's site on the local government portal, Looking Local.

"Applying online is so much easier and quicker than filling in forms for schools admission, and Looking Local makes it simpler still," said Digital Birmingham's digital empowerment manager Nikki Spencer.

"Working with Birmingham's Admissions and Appeals team and the DfE's Connect Digitally programme, it's hoped that increasing the number of digital channels available to parents will not only simplify the process for them but also help the region to hit our national e-target of 95% online applications by 2012."

This is the latest of a number of education partnerships Looking Local is involved in both on a national and local level. Looking Local's open technology allows real time integration with any online service to extend access to electronic services to the digitally excluded. By widening access to TV (Sky, Virgin and broadband enabled Freeview boxes) as well as mobile phones and games consoles, transaction costs are lowered and the benefits of electronic access are enjoyed by more people.

Operations Manager Guy Giles said, "Looking Local is pleased to work with Digital Birmingham to launch the first ever access to online schools admissions via TV. This is a significant step in widening access to this key council service."

"Interactive TV is in 55% of homes nationwide and there are over 17 million internet enabled mobile phones in the UK. The 125 public sector organisations already using Looking Local, and the addition of such significant services such as schools admissions, shows that our partners see the real value of TV and mobile in extending electronic access to as many homes and people as possible."

Access to online schools admissions joins a huge raft of services local government, housing and health partners are offering via Looking Local. Including choice based lettings, GP appointment and repeat prescriptions, access to the Family Information Directory, Jobcentre Plus, Transport Direct, credit unions, up to date young peoples activities in association with Plings, the standard range of reporting and requesting facilities, information and news.

To access the Looking Local on Virgin, press the interactive button, select 'News and Info' and then select 'Looking Local'. On Sky, press the interactive button, choose 'DirectGov', press 'select' on the welcome page and choose '#1 - Local Services'.

Once on the Birmingham Channel, click on 'other services and housing' and then on 'education and learning' to access the schools admissions service. On the Wii or PC, insert lookinglocal.gov.uk into the browser.

Notes to Editors

• Over 125 public sector bodies use Looking Local to publish information and offer 24/7 access to services
• Looking Local is an award winning service that has been publishing on DiTV for over six years and on mobile for over three years
• Looking Local is owned and managed by Kirklees Council and available to all of the public sector
• Looking Local is free to access on TV and standard network Internet charges apply when accessing from a mobile phone
• Looking Local is available nationwide and is specifically designed for the different platforms to ensure usability and accessibility
• For more information please visit www.lookinglocal.gov.uk/site
• For weekly updates follow our blog at: http://blog.lookinglocal.gov.uk/
• Follow us on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/lookinglocal

Digital Birmingham is a Birmingham City Council initiative and a strategic partnership of private, voluntary and public organisations throughout the city. It aims to establish Birmingham as a leading European digital city in 2010 and ensure that the benefits of digital technologies are available to all in the city. For more information visit www.digitalbirmingham.co.uk.