Over the past year SCET has seen its foundations shaken by the extentof change we have had to absorb. Above all, local government reform hasinfluenced our relationships with the new authorities and with individualschools, large numbers of which are now approaching us direct.

It is to the immense credit of our staff, to whom I gladly pay tributefor the quality of their contribution throughout the year, that they haveseen the new situation as offering opportunities rather than obstacles.I am optimistic about our links with the new councils, in which I havedetected a positive spirit and a readiness to work in partnership withus.

In a year when we have again met our budget objectives, the principalmessage has been that we have succeeded by facing outwards and offeringa customer-oriented approach. We have also been more visible and more accountable.In that context our strategy of a smaller staff and flatter structuresprompted us to enhance our internal use of IT for management and informationpurposes and to devolve more responsibility across our staff.

As part of the same strategy we started networking, with a number ofnew staff operating part-time from home as teleworkers. This offers usgreater access to educational expertise and is therefore a policy we maytake further.

Two prestigious awards came our way - an EMMA, won against fierce internationalcompetition, for our highly praised 5-14 Music CD-ROM, and an Investorsin People Award. We also strengthened our profile through closer linkswith the Sunburst Corporation in the United States, offering us a new marketpathway plus guidance and expertise in educational software development.

Finally, this was the period when the new prevalence of multimedia computersled us to adjust the visual content of our software and its interactivity.It was also when the Internet at last made its mighty impact. Over an intensivesix-week period we created our presence on it and satisfied the great thirstfor knowledge of Internet basics by offering almost 1,000 individuals ourmost successful training programme of the year.