The Bradford Learning Network Service ( BLN ) is a government approved provider of an educationally filtered internet and firewall service with access to the National Education Network. Each year schools pay £2950 per annum to ntl:Telewest for the pipe that delivers the BLN and £3 per pupil to Education Bradford on behalf of the BLN to cover Network Management, services delivered over the pipe and development fees.

The service from Telewest includes

• 10Mb uncontended internet access. This means that you don’t share your internet connection with other Bradford schools even if you connect into another school (an aggregation point).
• Synchronous connection. This means that the download and upload speeds are the same. Important when using online resources.

The BLN services provided by Synetrix

• Internet firewalls, caching (including caching of Espresso) and website filtering using a government approved service called Netsweeper.  Personalised Filtering is also available enabling staff more access rights than pupils allowing the use of the likes of youtube in school effectively and safely.
• Access to i-mail (an online email service with high levels of spam filtering).  We are currently in the process of moving schools to the new Live@edu email service.
• Helpdesk Support via Education Bradford and Synetrix.
• Access to the Bradford Learning Portal with Single Sign On access to BLN resources - http://sites.bradfordlearning.net (resources outlined below).

This area provides schools with help and information about Bradford Learning Portal resources. Presently the following fantastic resources are available to Bradford Learning Network subscribers for free:-

• Education City
• Hosting of Espresso and access to the Espresso content club
• Free access to downloads from Audio Network - Only available on the BLN
• SCRAN 
• The Big Bus
• Podium MT Software 
• Access to j2e.com
• Access to Jit.com (foundation Stage J2e content)
• Primary Pad PRO accounts for all teaching staff
• Access to Ja.net resources including Video Conferencing
• Access to SAM Learning (currently Secondary Schools only)
• Shoofly Literacy content
• Birchfield (Primary and Secondary)
• Guroo (Secondary Only)

We are also currently in the process of arranging a collaborative purchase with Rising Stars, allowing BLN schools access to their resources at a discounted price.  Details will be sent to schools in the near future.