Google for Education Case Study

When: 

January 2017

Where:

Stonesfield Primary School, a village school with 120 pupils in five mixed age classes.

Who:

Beth Binnian, Deputy Head Teacher and Computing Coordinator.

Why:

Stonesfield Primary School had an ageing Windows 2008 R2 server with a trolley of slow Windows 7 Pro curriculum laptops that were falling apart. The broadband and wireless at the school had been upgraded so Beth’s next priority was looking at the equipment needed to deliver the computing curriculum:

“In 2016, Stonesfield Primary School was facing a computing crisis.”

The Challenge

Computing lessons at Stonesfield Primary School were at best frustrating but the school could not afford £15,000 to replace their existing system. Initially the school purchased some iPads but found they didn’t satisfactorily address all of the school’s needs – they were restricted in what they could do, and it was felt that pupils still needed keyboard functionality.

The school had reached stalemate and felt that they were in a position where they simply couldn’t teach any aspect of the computing curriculum properly:

“Staff and pupils were being turned off computing because of our ageing technology.”

123Cloud Solution

Beth turned to 123ICT for guidance and, as their computing support provider, we recommended a cloud computing solution incorporating G Suite for Education with Chromebooks.  In our opinion, this was the only solution that would address the school’s teaching and learning requirements, whilst keeping within their tight budget constraints.

Beth had some initial reservations around adapting to the new system and how much time it would take to set up, but after speaking to our 123Cloud Solutions team, she recognised that this would be the most affordable and effective solution for them:

“None of our initial concerns have been an issue for us. The amount of time that Chromebooks are in use is a testament to how confident teachers are in using them.”

123Cloud Implementation

Our 123Cloud Solutions team purchased and installed a set of 30 Chromebooks and a new lockncharge trolley to quickly transport the Chromebooks between classrooms. The total spend on hardware and training was only £7,000:

“The new system was quick and easy to setup with a seamless transition for both pupils and staff.”

123Cloud Training

As part of our service, teachers were supported in delivering lessons using the new technology and G Suite for Education. Following the implementation Beth is delighted with the results:

“Chromebooks and G Suite for Education have revolutionised our lessons – the whole class are setup and ready to go in seconds. Google Docs enable children to collaborate with staff and other pupils. Using their school Google accounts, children can now continue to work on projects at home.”

“Thanks to Chromebooks with G Suite for Education, teaching and learning across the whole curriculum has been transformed.”

Thank you to Beth Binnian, Deputy Head at Stonesfield Primary School, for her assistance in compiling this case study.