EDUCATION TECH CASE STUDY

Inside a London Primary School

Primary School in London, England

Executive Summary

| 700 Pupils| 100 Teaching Staff| 3 Form Entry| 32 Classrooms, 11 Other Rooms and 2 Halls

Primary School Situation Awarded Ofsted Excellence considering Academy status

GoalsA flexible IT solution that can evolve to support future curriculum and pedagogic development and to deliver at the point of learning.

ChallengesBudgetsStatic or reducing budgets mean every penny counts, they are good at haggling!

WiFiCompletely inadequate expecting to replace this summer.

Replacements An average life expectancy of 5 to 6 years means 50 to 60 hardware pieces need to be replaced each year – just to stand still!

ComputersCurrently deciding on the most appropriate types of computer

Background: The school is over 100 years old but 10 years ago was completely rebuilt. Much of the new build funding was from PFI (Private Finance Initiative) and part of this has been passed back to the school but it gives them some odd situations. I.e. the cabling in the school is owned by the PFI so it can take a year to move a cable, at a huge cost. They built an additional hall recently but the cost of attaching the LAN was so great they decided not to. The teaching staff are young and enthusiastic with good IT skills. They are one of the first accredited ‘Thinking Schools’ and would like to focus more on project based learning. Project based learning is a teaching method in which students gain 21st century learning skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an engaging and complex question, problem or challenge (often working in teams). Easy access to devices along with good WiFi connection and broadband will also be essential to ensure collaborative working. They have high traditional values, so an emphasise on writing skills knowing that once students get to secondary school they will focus on computer time. Student contact time on computers is limited to 1 hour a day. But they do use a lot of video, images etc and really like to mix up the mediums. They see value in the children using a wide range of computers believing that children need to have experienced different types of computer and Operating Systems that they may use in future. Consistency is important so that time is not wasted in setting up or entering multiple passwords.

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“We know that technology is moving so fast I think we need a change of mind-set. Currently we use technology as an add-on in lessons, we need to have a fundamental rethink about how we include tech in the lessons” - Assistant Principal

Finances: There is constant pressure on all budgets especially for equipment. They are installing a BenQ PU9730 7,000 lumens projector for the new main assembly hall. Total cost is £12k ($17.7), the projector cost is half, the other half taken up with a large electrically controlled screen, full audio to cover the hall for 400 children and installation from three stories. Interestingly, to save the school budget and, to set a goal for the Parent Teachers Association, the total cost was fund-raised by parents.

Promethean interactive whiteboards are in every classroom and the teachers are confident with Promethean Activ software and like using the boards. One year 3 teacher said, “I use my Promethean board in every lesson and the children enjoy it.”

Some of the boards are old and will need to be replaced, after 10 years they are difficult to use. Promethean built-in speakers are considered poor so they attach other speakers. Projectors: There are 32 Projectors, one per classroom, about 10 are not working well and need to be replaced. They currently budget £1,200 ($1,770) each for short throw projectors.

Computers: The school has over 140 desktop computers. The computer suite has 30+ Dell desktops which are very stable and last for years. “The computer suite has two main benefits: first; equipment is always working and second; it is seen as a treat for the children to use it.” – IT teacher. They have two desktop computers per classroom, one for the teacher and one at the back of class for the Teacher’s Assistant or for children to use.

Tablets: They have a few iPads. They are looking to buy more tablets and are considering LearnPad tablets because they are ‘education only’ therefore students cannot do anything else on them (unlike iPads). LearnPads are also considered ready to go, have good school content and can send images backwards and forwards to the main display and they like the QR codes function. Cost £150 ($200) each so much cheaper than iPad. Also, they really like the charging units. However, although they have seen them 4 times and spoken to schools with them they have not yet purchased. Main reason for delay is that the poor existing WiFi infrastructure. Chromebooks: They are considering for older children, but know that a local school found them complex to set up and run.

Management of Equipment:

They have no IT staff and have no IT people on site. A full time teacher spends 1/2 day per week resolving IT issues and planning.

Maintenance of Equipment:

They are one of six schools in a consortium that have a managed service contract costing £100k for the 6 schools, with Gaia, a nationwide DfE approved provider of ICT products and services. Gaia will send out engineers but the school still have to pay for parts. They have just agreed a new service contract for 3 years.They use a local AV company to buy projectors.

Hardware Assets:

140 computers 34 projectors30 interactive whiteboards34 printers 5 scanners32 amplifiers 43 laptopsSwitches and hubs

Total over 320 pieces of hardware

They use productivity tools for text editing, data handling & interpretation, charting and presentation. They have invested in some subscription based software (cloud computing). They do imaginative and creative

activities including 3D printing, music production, animation, video production and editing. They are looking for child friendly video production and editing mixing decks. They have the software for 3D projects which can be

accessed from desktop computers. They have links to secondary schools for 3D printing.

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Key learnings for suppliers: | Many primary schools do not have dedicated IT staff and therefore investment decisions can be intimidating.

| Budgets are not increasing now or in the foreseeable future, this puts schools under extreme pressure and

| Schools are wary about subscribing to content on subscriptions as they feel ‘locked in’. Content suppliers

| Building a digital school when there is no single IT lead is a big job. Suppliers should build closer links to

Futuresource has been researching the global education market for more than 15 years. Starting with sales of interactive whiteboards into classrooms, services have developed to encompass a wide range of technology solutions including Personal Computing in K-12 and Higher Education and Complementary devices. We also research education content and software markets as well as key emerging trends and hot topics.

“Interestingly when children use the desktops they say they seem very old-fashioned and are surprised that they do not have a touch screen” – Year 3 teacher

WiFi: The current system is causing major problems as it can only handle 45 computers at a time. A new system is to be installed before July aiming to future proof the school for the next 10 years and include external WiFi cover at nursery and reception. A budget is currently in place.

Broadband: Is supplied by London Grid for Learning and they are locked into a contract with them. Use of on-demand video is high, but they are aware that they need to ensure that they have adequate bandwidth to cope with its ever increasing use.

Children can access the London Grid for Learning Environment (which includes Word, Excel and PowerPoint), MyMaths and PurpleMash software from home. They do not have access to the school network and do not envisage in the short term pupils will be given network access.

Content: Purple Mash is popular but the commercial model has now changed. It used to be one-off costs and now everything is on subscription, so can be very expensive.

Where do they learn from? Purchases are considered very carefully and normally they get three quotes for any significant purchase and say that they are very good at haggling! They learn from other schools and BETT is the major show they attend, they have product demonstrations and trials. They use expertise from the Local Authority and the service provision company Gaia’s advice is highly regarded.

often makes them conservative in their buying behaviour. Freemium models likely to gain traction in order to try to develop usage first.

Less is more, ensure solutions are as simple and reliable as possible and integrate seamlessly into third party solutions to ensure IT related administrative jobs are minimal.

need to enhance their offerings so that ongoing subscriptions are seen as good value.

schools and be seen as influential in the schools IT strategy vision.

How do they decide? One example is their debate of the pros and cons of tablet computers versus laptop computers. One proposal, after the new WiFi is installed, is to buy 30 LearnPad tablets for one year group and 30 chromebooks for another to be used by teachers who are advocates and analysed closely over the year to allow an informed decision. Possible solution may be LearnPads for younger years and chromebooks for older children. For such a major financial decision they will also rely on local schools giving feedback on their experience of LearnPads and chromebooks before a final decision.

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The views, opinions and quotations used in this case study are those of the individual contributors from the school and do not necessarily reflect the views of Futuresource Consulting or its staff.