With just a small suite of 8 networked PCs, St Albert the Great Catholic Primary School in Hertfordshire was not able to provide ICT training to an entire class.
The 8 system suite was only ever meant to be a stopgap. However, it took the school sometime to find a solution that they felt offered them the flexibility that they needed and represented ‘best value’. They eventually found what they were looking for from Leverstock.
Headmaster Robert Mundy said, “many of the solutions we reviewed meant that ‘we got what we were given’ and we had to try and fit it around our requirements. Leverstock offered us a versatile and flexible solution, where we could choose our software, choose how our desktop looked and influence the overall configuration of the system. The kit was also more aesthetically pleasing than others we saw and on top of that, we felt that Leverstock offered us a more open and partnership based relationship than some of the other suppliers.”
The system was up and running in less than 6 months (covering the summer holiday period).
With the new system from Leverstock, each class now has its own slot for ICT teaching.
“The children are really excited, very proud of the new equipment and are much more motivated through learning together”, explains Robert. He goes on, “more than this, the staff are also highly motivated. The previous equipment was not always reliable and ensuring the systems stayed up for the entire lesson was sometimes pot luck. Now the staff have absolute confidence that the kit will work – meaning they can focus on the lesson content, not the systems.”
“Leverstock support is first rate,” says Robert. “Whilst staff have confidence in the systems themselves, they also have the peace of mind from knowing that Leverstock are only ever one call away”. He goes on “I really can’t rate their staff highly enough – they are professional, competent, polite and a nice bunch of people. They are welcome at our school at any time.”
The school was awarded the NAACEMARK QA standard for excellence in ICT in December 2005.