Reading (UK), April 2013 - As a Specialist Sport and ICT College with consistently good Ofsted ratings, it's no surprise that Prospect School in Reading are ahead of the curve when it comes to using technology to underpin their success. After all, many schools would be inspired by 52% of their students achieving A* to C grades in the summer exams alone.
Six years ago, when school systems were server based with a heavy reliance on infrastructure and information wasn’t instant, Prospect School chose e1 from Pearson - the first cloud- based MIS in the UK. The result was that the school was always open to staff when they needed access, avoiding the need for an added expense of investment in hardware.
Teachers now had the ability to create and link teaching plans to classes, formulate individual learning plans, monitor pupil progress/assessment results, and much more from any internet- enabled device. The next step was linking their learning platform to e1. When their existing software underperformed, Fronter (also from Pearson) became the logical choice.
Combined with single sign on, moving between the two systems was easier and provided a more efficient teaching and learning environment for staff. But it’s not just about having great technology - it’s about what you do with it.
It’s clear from the results that Prospect is a school that has invested heavily in making sure students get the most out of their learning. That doesn’t come from technology; it’s supported by it.
With Prospect School’s forward-thinking approach to technology in the classroom, they became one of the first schools to pilot Imagine.
Martin Palfrey, responsible for the eLearning strategy for the school’s 1,300 students, ninety teaching staff, and parents, said, “Closer integration of a learning platform with an MIS is a great step forward and one I had been actively seeking for some time. I was delighted when I learned of Imagine and took steps to make sure our school was included in the pilot. Now, one year on, I find the ability to look at student information, record data, and check my timetable without having to log in again a huge time saver. I also have confidence that Pearson are committed to the long-term development of Imagine and will continue to innovate to our benefit.”
What is Imagine?
Imagine is a suite of software solutions that combine through one login to provide a rich teaching and learning experience for teachers, pupils and parents. The MIS and learning platform blended together form the core of the solution with the ability to integrate other solutions through the Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF). The integrity of school and pupil data is secure through 128bit encryption, similar to that of online banking.
