Elm Park Primary School Case Study
Elm Park is a new two-form entry Primary School in the London Borough of Havering, which opened its doors on 3rd May 2011. Joskos Solutions are proud to have been commissioned to realise their vision of 'ICT Everywhere' in their brand new state-of-the–art site.
Below is a summary of some of our engineers' and managers' excellent work in installing and supporting Elm Park Primary's ICT infrastructure.
Elm Park's previous limitations
- 2 laptop trolleys, each with a WAP on top.
- Each trolley had to be plugged in and configured every time it was brought into a classroom.
- Classrooms had old-style long-throw projectors which were uncomfortable for teachers to use – shining in their eyes and casting shadows on the board.
- The single school hall had no audio-visual facilities – a portable projector and speakers had to be brought into the hall every time audio-visual facilities were required.
The solutions that Joskos implemented
Elm Park now has true 'ICT everywhere'. The school has moved from a largely fixed ICT environment to a mobile solution with excellent wireless coverage throughout the school site. At the same time, Joskos addressed all of Elm Park's previous audio-visual and network limitations.
Solutions Specifications
- Open 'Heart Space' in the middle of the school with 16 Apple iMacs.
- 5 trolleys of laptops and netbooks. Two of the trolleys are Netrollers - this was a recommendation which we made which was taken up by the school, to enable use of netbooks on field trips, and in the playground.
- 40 iPod Touches which can browse the Internet, and copy, paste & print documents, as well as acting as still & video cameras and with access to many educational
applications.
- Wireless everywhere – teachers love the fact that they have wireless Internet anywhere, and can do their lesson planning (PPA) in any part of the school, using any portable device.
- 2 virtualised Windows servers, supplemented by an Apple server and an Admin server
- 3 Samsung TV screens around the school in the main Reception, Dining Hall and Staffroom to show visitor information and to promote pupil achievement.
- Superb audio-visual solution: In each of the two halls Joskos designed and implemented a complete audio-visual solution including a 'flight box' containing a projector, handheld and lapel mics and CD, DVD & iPod players.
Vicki Knox , Head Teacher of Elm Primary said:
"The high level of new technology could have been daunting to the staff but because everything worked from day 1, this has given the staff the confidence to use more and more aspects of the new technology. Staff morale and confidence are high. The staff has gone from strength to strength in using the new technology."