Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Established in 1930’s in Great Barr,Birmingham, Perry Beeches School wasrebuilt in the 1990’s and is listed as one ofthe City’s Iconic Buildings. With 920 pupilsand 140 staff, the school gained technologystatus in 2004 enabling them to equipthemselves with the most up to dateequipment available. Achieving thegreatest 51% improvement in Maths andEnglish across the country, Perry Beeches isproud to regard itself as ‘The MostImproved School Ever!’
Key challenge – Reduce high mobilephone call charges and make staff moreaccessible to parents
“With an estimated 50 to 60 calls fromparents to teaching staff every day,managing communications can be alogistical nightmare” says Deputy HeadTeacher, Darren Foreman. “It is sometimesdifficult for parents to reach teachersbecause they are teaching. This means thatin many cases teachers have to call parentsback and they are typically given a mobilenumber which can lead to spiralling phonebills. With an ageing phone system that wasbeginning to become unreliable theproblem was magnified because sometimes
relaying of messages from the receptionistwere delayed or simply didn’t get passed onto teachers causing frustration for parentswho then had to call again.”
Solution – A newunified commsphone systemdelivers immediateannual savings
The school realisedthat it needed toupgrade its communications infrastructureand review how it could rationalise risingphone call costs. After reviewing sixdifferent suppliers, Perry Beeches chose
HBT Communications to help. “On callcosts alone HBT could save usapproximately £1500 per year” saysDarren. By replacing the school’s old
hardware based phonesystem with aSwyxWare softwarebased IP solution thatintegrated into theschool’s existingnetwork, it waspossible to transformthe way in which
parents and teachers could communicate.“Compared with the other suppliers, thenew communications solution worked out£8,000 cheaper than the rest. We also felt
THE VOICE OF IT FOR EDUCATION
INTELLECT
THE NEWSLETTER FROM HBT COMMUNICATIONS
INTHIS ISSUE
VOICE BOX
LEARNING TO BENEFITFROM….BETTERBROADBAND
Perry Beeches School CASE STUDY
2A DAY IN THE LIFE OF…DARRYL SMITH, HENLEYCOLLEGE COVENTRY
TALKING POINT
3IN THE NEWS
FINHAM PARKSPONSORSHIP4
‘The Most ImprovedSchool Ever!’ improvesparent/teachercommunications &reduces costs
“On call costs alone HBTcould save us approximately
£1500 per year”cont. p2 1
that of all the systems we looked at Swyx couldbe installed with the least impact on the day-to-day running of the school” adds Darren.
Rather than the receptionist taking messageson pieces of paper and then delivering tomembers of staff, the Swyx solution enablescalls from parents and other third parties to bedirected straight to a teacher’s extension. Ifthey are away or busy, the system gives theparent the ability to leave a message which isthen sent as a sound file which goes directly tothe teacher’s email inbox. The teacher canthen retrieve the message when they log intotheir laptop or alternatively can even listen toit via their mobile phone. The Swyx solutionalso allows all parent/teacher conversations tobe recorded electronically and stored on ahard drive. In the past this was done manuallywhich was very time-consuming. “If you haveto transcribe 50-60 calls per day, then theamount of time that can be saved is quitesignificant.” says Darren.
Benefits – Huge savings on call costs andpositive parent feedback
Since working with HBT to replace the school’sold phone system and carry out an audit of allcommunications costs, Perry Beeches hasachieved the following:
• Mobile to mobile and internalcommunications are now FREE
• On-going annual savings of £1500 oncall charges alone
• Feedback from parents is thatcommunication has now improved
• Lower phone system maintenance costs
• All phone upgrades now take secondsrather than days waiting for an externalengineer
• Reduced costs on rationalising numberof phone lines
• Full electronic audit trail of all calls, plustime saved in transcribingconversations manually
A final word
Darren Foreman concludes, “Our on-goingrelationship with HBT and the deployment ofa new communications system has enabled usto transform the relationships betweenparents and staff as well as helps us to makeconsiderable cost and efficiency savings overthe short and longer-term.”
Perry Beeches Case Study cont.
-
A BIG WELCOME to our first, new regular
quarterly newsletter aimed specifically at schools
and colleges.
We have been working with the education sector
for over 20 years, offering advice and consultation on how
the latest IT and telecoms technology can help solve day to day
challenges.
From enhancing parent/teacher communication through to meeting
the rapidly changing requirements of Internet-based learning, in
each issue, we hope to share practical advice and knowledge on how
intelligent IT and telecoms can help you work smarter.
We also plan to feature some more light-hearted regular columns
such as the ‘Day in the Life’ which interviews our own customers on
their roles, as well as life outside of work.
I hope you enjoy the first issue.
We would welcome your feedback or suggestions for future topics,
so simply email me directly at [email protected]
• Do you have sufficient bandwidth?
• Are charges too high?
Schools are often at the mercy of their localauthorities when it comes to both the costsand quality of service of their broadbandconnection, so is it worth considering thealternatives?
As the demand for bandwidth in schools isgrowing at a rate of 40% per year, thereliance on an Internet connection forfaster learning and real-time on-lineconnectivity means that Broadband hasalready become a vital backbone to theoverall running of a school. The questiontherefore is whether you can afford not toensure that firstly the connection is robustenough to meet all your daily needs andsecondly whether you are getting value formoney?
By selecting an alternative 100mb highspeed Business Fast Internet solution fromHBT, your school could be saving in excessof £15,000 per year compared with theservice from the local council and we canprovide a fully managed service so you willhave greater security and control overwebsites accessed by pupils.
Pupil security
With HBT’s managed service you cancontrol access to different applicationsaccording to individual user profiles, guardagainst spam and viruses and bettermanage allocation of bandwidth acrossboth pupils and staff.
Schools can even set up the ability for alltelephone calls to be sent across theinternet connection. This removes the costof telephone lines and ADSL providingadditional on-going annual savings.
For a free consultation on how you canimprove the quality of your broadband,both now and for the future please [email protected]
learningto benefitfrom...BetterBroadband
WHY IS BROADBAND KEY?
• On-line learning & exams
• Live lesson broadcasts
• HD video conferencing
• On-line communication e.g. social media
• Electronic books/libraries
• VoIP & unified communications
• BYOD (Bring Your Own Devices)
VOICEBOX
2
What’s your Job title? Computer Technician
Name of College: Henley College Coventry
Sum up your role in one or two sentences?
Maintain the college IT and communications
infrastructure and ensure there is as little
downtime as possible
What does a typical day entail? Work commences
at 8:30 ready for students arrival for 9:00. Check
through work email and also helpdesk for any
outstanding jobs or jobs scheduled for that
morning. On occasions we have jobs to do early on
and depending on the severity possibly earlier
than 8:30 to limit class disruption.
As we are extending the college, the current
typical day would involve working around the site
builders and liaising with site managers/architects on where
computers, networks and server rooms are to be situated.
A typical day is spent routing and terminating the Fibre/Cat5
cables allowing all rooms to have computer connectivity, ensuring
the College computer images are up to date and the
computers/laptop are imaged (approximately 200 laptops and
500 desktops.) I also ensure the telephone exchange is running
efficiently and maintain the staff e-mail server and amend any
staff rules where necessary.
Other tasks include creating student email
accounts, installing specialised software into
computer rooms, installing printers and generally
maintain users and computers through Active
Directory and Group Policy Management.
What do you like best about your job? As we have a
large amount of staff and students, it’s good to
meet different people from different cultures.
Obviously working in IT it’s always good to be able
to have access to the latest software
What do you like least? Unfortunately we don’t
have any windows in our office which means we
can’t see the lovely, yearly tropical weather Coventry brings!
If you could only take three things to a desert island what would
you take? My wife and kids, oh and Bear Grylls to help get off the
island!
A Day in the Life of Darryl Smith
TalkingPoint
?-
-- ---- ---- --
Should schools andacademies be sodependent on localauthorities for IT
cont. p4-- ---- ---- --
Irene Hand, Alderman’s
Green School
3
Many schools still rely on the local council to
provide all or some of their IT services, from
SIMS support through to Internet access.
However, does over-reliance on the local
authority put schools at a disadvantage?
Many schools believe they have little choice
but to be council-led in many aspects of their
technology, particularly if they do not have
any IT experience in-house.
Network Manager for Alderman’s Green
School Irene Hand shares her experience,
“When we were having a whole new school
built the council recommended configuring
our new network in the same way as they have
always done historically, with 2 domains and
2 subnets/IP scopes, keeping admin and
curriculum users and computers separate.
Coming from a corporate background I knew
from experience how a single domain/AD
environment would work so much better for
us, making it easier to manage access rights
and permissions to both admin and curriculum
systems and resources; many members of
staff tend to have a foot in both camps
nowadays! We still rely on the Council for
some services including SIMS support, but
schools definitely need to explore and
consider other options.”
HBT believes there are other benefits that
schools can realise by reducing dependence
on the local authorities.
• Reduced Internet access – save on
average 20% on annual rates
• Lower cost hardware/software
• Enhanced web filtering
• Clearer breakdown of IT costs
• Reduced mobile costs
• A single bill for all your services
And for those schools that do not have IT
expertise, companies like HBT can help
provide impartial advice on what technology
decisions make most sense for each individual
school and manage both implementation and
on-going ICT support.
HB House,
Foleshill Enterprise Park,
Courtaulds Way, Coventry, CV6 5NX
Telephone: 0844 415 3666 Facsimile: 0844 415 3334Email: [email protected]
STAR QUALITY
HBT is again proud to be supporting Finham Park School, located in South-West
Coventry, by sponsoring its ‘Star Studded Celebration of Success’ Awards Event 2013
to recognise and celebrate the success and achievements of everyone at the School.
Now in its third year the awards allow everyone to express their pride in those students
who’ve excelled in their studies, gained significant achievement in extra-curricular
activities or contributed in making Finham Park School ‘outstanding’.
HBT works closely with Finham Park to provide IT consultancy and services such as
mobility, high speed Internet and IP telephony.
What’s your favourite film and why?
Transformers - it brings back childhood
memories!
If you could see any band or artist live on
stage, who would it be? Lionel Richie
What’s the strangest food you’ve ever
eaten? Octopus
What car do you drive? Peugeot 307
Sport
What’s your dream car? Aston Martin
Vanquish
What’s your most prized possession?
Other than my family it has to be my
apple products - iPhone/Ipad!
What is your favourite past-time? Family
time, football and fishing
If you had the power to change the world,
what would you do? No war, equality and
debt free
Who do you prefer? Jamie Oliver or Delia
Smith? Neither - Gino D'Acampo as he is
hilarious
What place do you most like to visit and
why? Between Dubai and Florida as they
both have amazing buildings, heat,
waterparks and quality family time
Who do you most admire (living or
dead)? Sounds soppy but truly my Wife!
a day in the life of cont.
SEND IN ACAPTION
TO WIN
£100WORTH OF BOOK
VOUCHERS FORYOUR SCHOOL
IN THE NEWS Please email answers to
4
How to connect with HBT
