Following hard on the heals of the launch of the Virtual Schools platform comes the launch of the Kings' School - National Centre of Excellence.

8th Day Studios has developed the Virtual Schools platform to roll out to all schools in the UK over the coming years. However in order to establish Virtual Schools as the primary web-based solution for schools, 8th Day Studios has elected to firstly create a number of "Centres of Excellence" and to work closely with them to monitor, evaluate and further mould the Virtual Schools platform to the needs of schools before it rolls out nationally.

The National Centre of Excellence is the first step in this process and has been built around Kings' School Winchester. It incorporates 7 of their feeder primary schools; Compton, Colden Common, John Keble, Oliver's Battery, Stanmore, St Faiths & St Peters. It also incorporates Bridgemary secondary school and INTECH Science and Technology Trust. The National Centre of Excellence was officially launched to parents, governors, members of the public and press at a presentation at Kings' School on November 17th 2003.

The presentation by 8th Day Studios and Kings' School was attended by representatives of all the companies involved in the project including Digital-Word and Firstserv, as well as representatives from 3 local educational authorities (LEA's) and a number of schools bidding to become Regional Centres of Excellence as the project moves forward.

The launch received a very warm reception from all sections of the audience and has been followed up with significant positive local press coverage.