Bromcom announces blog competition with The Wisdom Partnership

Bromcom is delighted to announce its blog competition with The Wisdom Partnership is now open!

The Bromcom Blog Competition is accepting short blogs about the impact of the school MIS market on schools/trusts and children’s education. It is open to all schools and multi-academy trusts in England. To submit an entry, you must either be a headteacher or principal, or other school/trust leader, administrator, manager, and educator with your headteacher’s/principal’s permission to apply on behalf of the school. The deadline for entries is the 15^th January 2025. You can learn more about the competition task and entry requirements below.

Over 30 cash prizes are up for grabs and the top five entries will receive:

1. £2,000.00
2. £1,500.00
3. £1,000.00
4. £750.00
5. £500.00

The next 25 entries will each receive £250 so there is plenty of chances to win! The prizes will be awarded at a prize-giving ceremony, and there will also be a webinar as well as plenty of networking opportunities for participants.

Why we set up The Bromcom Blog Competition

There has been a lot of disruption in the MIS market recently. Over the past three years, approximately one in four schools have switched MIS. During this time, we have become aware of some concerns that many schools and trusts have about switching MIS including:

• The migration of MIS data to a new provider
• Getting stuck in a long-term contract with a provider
• The legal issues that have been raised over providers’ intellectual property
• The legal cases over poor procurement practices
• The fees paid to support teams for MIS referrals

We want to hear schools’ and trusts’ perspectives about the above concerns as well as how MIS solutions are helping shape and transform children’s education.

How to enter the competition

Participants must submit an original, unpublished blog article of between 500 and 750 words on one of the following four headings:

1. Data migration issues

Issues such as the migration of MIS data, long-term contractual commitments, disputes over alleged intellectual property when using MIS backup in the migration process, and the application of new conditions in MIS licenses.

Relevant links:

• https://schoolsweek.co.uk/competition-watchdog-pulled-into-mis-dispute-again/
• https://schoolsweek.co.uk/competition-watchdog-launches-another-probe-into-sims/

2. Referral fees

Questions have been voiced about referral fees for MIS support teams, raising significant questions for schools and trusts alike about the potential impact on Local Authorities’ impartiality, transparency, and above all, about ethics and ethos in the public procurement process.

Relevant links:

• https://schoolsweek.co.uk/councils-accept-referral-fees-for-schools-mis-switch/

3. Procurement

The need for increased awareness and adherence to procurement regulation by schools, MATS, and LAs, given the lessons learned from the United Learning Trust case (see links below) and the pros and cons of suppliers challenging procurements by MATs and LAs.

Relevant links:

• https://schoolsweek.co.uk/trust-embroiled-in-2m-contract-legal-row-amid-move-to-the-cloud/
• https://schoolsweek.co.uk/mis-bromcom-arbor-sims-united-learning-legal-case/
• https://schoolsweek.co.uk/united-learning-refused-court-appeal-over-2m-mis-deal/
• https://schoolsweek.co.uk/lift-schools-academy-trust-academies-enterprise-settles-bromcom-arbor-mis-legal/
• https://schoolsweek.co.uk/software-supplier-takes-legal-action-against-second-trust/

4. The application of AI in MIS

Let your imagination run free and let us know how you see AI making a big difference for you and the education of children. This may involve talking about the technology involved (e.g. predictive analytics software), about automating administration / communications, or about integrating adaptive learning platforms and customising learning pathways for pupils.

Relevant links:

• https://schoolsweek.co.uk/solutions-five-ways-to-use-ai-to-get-the-best-from-your-mis/

If you would like to enter, simply email competitions@thewisdompartnership.com to notify them of your intent to enter and you will be provided with an entry form and instructions for submitting your blog.

Entry requirements

Each entry should clearly articulate the impact of the school MIS market on schools/trusts and children’s education. We are particularly interested in finding out how the churn in MIS solutions has impacted school leadership, management processes, workload, data handling, analytics, and children’s education.

Your entry should be written in a professional and engaging way, have a positive tone of voice, and reflect the standards of the schools’ sector. Make sure you use inclusive and respectful language, and that your blog is suitable for a diverse audience, and don’t forget to proofread your submission for grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Entries will be judged by a panel of industry specialists who will pay particular attention to the relevance to the topics, the clarity and coherence of writing, insightfulness and originality, and the practical examples and evidence used.

Good luck!