SCHOOLS have been at the forefront of computer learning for more than a decade, but scores of them in East Lancashire are now taking a giant leap forward in information technology as they are electronically linked to a new system giving them constant connection with their education authority.

Essentially, the new Schools Portal System, which links schools under county council control with the education authority, is an organisational tool that saves time and money.

It gives them continuous access to a mass of information which helps them to function -- providing them with such material as on-line personnel forms, links to the Department for Education and Skills, pages from the National Grid for Learning and even a who's who chart of staff at the education authority.

It will speed up and improve the way schools communicate with the authority and with each other and will eventually allow head teachers to do more work from home instead of having to stay at school in the evenings or during the holidays.

But it is the system's potential for spreading learning and information even wider that is perhaps most exciting. For, in future it promises to provide access to more and more education websites -- not just as an internal tool for schools, but for members of the public too.