Case Studies
Arts and Media School One-to One Chromebooks Scheme
“One of the best decisions we have made around IT strategy”
Arts and Media School Islington (AMSI) in London, England, is a founding member of London Schools ICT Partnership. Today they’re working towards becoming a Google Reference School
The change
Looking for a practical and secure solution for students and staff alike, AMSI moved to Chromebooks across the school. Chromebooks are computers that keep files on the cloud, rather than on the device.
Access to technology for all with Chromebooks
AMSI’s decision to adopt a one-to-one Chromebook scheme means that all students have the opportunity to use technology both at school and at home to support their learning. This is a transformational change for children who might otherwise not have access to technology, and helps engender equality amongst the students. Some of the pros of Chromebooks include:
- Quick power-up
- Long battery life
- Built-in virus protection
- Student and staff resources all in one place
- Easy marking and general admin
- Digitalised timetable, classroom and assessments
Incredible savings
Since switching to Google Workspace and the one-to-one Chromebook scheme, AMSI found they needed:
- Fewer workstations
- Scaled down server infrastructure
- Printing dramtically reduced
- Saving over a £150k on IT infrastructure over 3 years in procuring these devices
- The school also saves families money and promotes equality between students
AMSI loves…
- Homework accessible on-the-go from any device
- Removing the ‘digital divide’: supporting disadvantaged students and creating a level playing field
- Strengthened student collaboration
- The wealth of resources available to support high quality teaching
- Teachers have more time for other duties such as lesson planning
- Training and drop-in clinics to ensure all users are confident
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School: Journey to Google Workspace
“From on-prem IT to cloud, and the teachers and pupils love it”
In 2016, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School (EGA) helped found London Schools ICT Partnership as a member and began their IT move to the cloud. Today, the school uses a hybrid model, with 90% of their data and resources on Google Drive.
The change
At the end of their Building Schools for Future contract, EGA faced a potential £200k spend to bring its outdated IT and AV equipment up-to-date.
Heading for the cloud with Google Workspace
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Phase 1. Migrating from on-prem email to a cloud solution (Gmail)
- Freed up space on old servers
- Made staff and student communication easier with instant and on-the-go access
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Phase 2. Adopting Google Suite, including Google Drive
- Gave flexibility around server infrastructure
- Saved £50k on servers while achieving industry standard
- Improved access (from any device) to information
- Made it easier for students to complete assignments
- Reduced teacher planning time with useful features
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Phase 3. Chromebook one-to-one scheme
- Reduced demands on physical space for IT suites – students keep their Chromebooks with them at all times
- Made assignments and resources easily and instantly accessible on-the-go
- Introduced 24hr filtering
- Reduced printing thanks to shared digital resources
Incredible savings
- Printing costs dramatically reduced
- One-to-one devices strategy saves £23k each year
- Server infrastructure saves £15k per year
- The saving: £150k
EGA loves…
- Streamlined communication
- High quality teaching supported by robust ICT infrastructure
- Collaborative working between staff
- In-house Chromebook repairs, decrease maintenance costs
- Exposure of students to up-to-date technologies
- Supporting students’ learning equally
- Being part of a Schools ICT Partnership allows sharing of resources, experience and expertise
Federation of Montem and Drayton Park Primary School: The Edventure Collaborative
“An extremely responsive, personalised and effective service around maintaining our IT network”
Montem and Drayton Park are primary schools in the centre of Islington. In 2019, they joined together in The Edventure Collaborative (TEC) Federation
The change
Drayton Park was one of the first primary schools in Islington to move to cloud computing. Upon forming TEC, the IT vision for the Partnership was to move to Google Workspace, with full training for all staff
Easy and secure access to joint resources
TEC’s overhaul began with in-house workshop sessions, delivering full training across staff for Google Drive, Google Docs and other cloud apps. The new cloud-based folder structures allowed admin, teaching staff and governors across the school’s access to shared data, smoothing the operations of the Federation
TEC loves…
- Email attachments are eliminated, doing away with duplicate documents
- Newly available tools enable more efficient collaboration and curriculum planning between teachers
- Cloud platform allowing for smoother communication, improving engagement with parents/guardians
- No copying of data to memory pens, or designated devices for accessing school resources remotely
- Easy but secure access to data, whether at one school or another, training or at home
Pembury House Nursery School & Children's Centre
Pembury House came to us for IT support in 2021.
The change
The goal was to improve overall technology across the nursery and children centre, with emphasis on improving Wi-Fi and user technology experience. Today, Pembury House has: - new servers - fully functioning Wi-Fi - Google Workspace and Chromebooks
Pembury House loves…
The staff are more confident using the intuitive, fit-for-purpose IT since the refresh
Rokesly Infants School, Haringey
“specialists that we can trust to give us advice on our current position as well as on future developments”
Rokesly Infant School came to us for an audit and school network rebuild in 2020
The change
When we audited the school’s IT in the summer of 2020, the infrastructure needed a major overhaul, including - servers, which were outdated and not fit for purpose - computers, which were old, slow and with a high breakage rate - network switch
Network rebuild
By 2023, we had:
- Replaced the old servers
- Installed SSD drives including memory in all computers
- Procured and converted 33 old iMacs free-of-charge from a partner school into Chromebooks for student use
Incredible savings
Thanks to the use of refurbished servers and computers and on-line sourcing of parts, the cost for the network upgrade was under £5k
Rokelsy loves…
- More devices to use
- Fast, reliable IT experience across the school
