Our IT Team was alerted to the situation and subsequently they worked to put together a charitable support package. Meetings with Headteachers and Senior Management Teams helped to identify the technical challenges and priorities faced by their respective schools.
Within a relatively short space of time the College’s IT personnel stabilised all critical services and undertook a phased programme of digital transformation, radically improving the technology offering. In particular internet services, a key breakthrough, saved schools a considerable sum.
“We renegotiated service agreements, which were costing a great deal but offering little”, says IT Director, Trevor Benstock. “Simultaneously we upgraded and enhanced the technical configuration and donated core equipment no longer used by Bradfield.” Six years on and the projects continue to be a great success.
For a small primary school, their support has been invaluable especially over the past year when we needed to get our remote learning provision in place quickly. Not only that but they are a pleasure to work with.
Caroline, Headteacher at Bradfield Primary
“We have received wonderful support from the Bradfield ICT Support Team over the past two years,” says Hilary, Head Teacher of Englefield Primary.
“Paul and Colin are always available to help, and they fully understand the needs of our small school. They made it possible for us to continue supporting our pupils at home during the first Lockdown through the creation of a shared drive and through group and individual training of our staff in the use of Microsoft Teams; this enabled that all-important face-to-face contact with pupils to continue.
“They have also been proactive in keeping our ICT hardware updated so that we can provide the best learning opportunities for our pupils. Moving our ICT support to Bradfield College has been one of our best decisions…thank you!”
Caroline, Headteacher at Bradfield Primary said: “We have been delighted with the support and advice we have received from Bradfield College IT services. They are extremely responsive, find creative solutions to our problems and have up-to-date knowledge and understanding of our systems and practices. For a small primary school, their support has been invaluable especially over the past year when we needed to get our remote learning provision in place quickly. Not only that but they are a pleasure to work with.”
The College IT Team are now at capacity in terms of external support contracts and capabilities, which is the only negative as we are aware that other schools in the community have enquired about similar support services.
Much goodwill, off-the-clock hours and hardware donation has allowed us to greatly enhance the digital facilities and overall educational offering while balancing the priority requirements of our day jobs. We are very proud of what has been achieved and the relationships built.
