Guildford Archives - inTEC Group

Case Study: Winchester College

inTEC EDUCATION worked with Winchester College to develop digital transformation plans for the next five years and beyond.

Digital Transformation Case Study

About

Winchester College, established in 1382 by William of Wykeham, stands as one of the world’s most renowned and distinguished educational institutions. Its guiding motto, “Manners Makyth Man,” though centuries old, resonates with a surprisingly modern spirit.

At the helm of the ambitious and transformative IT improvement initiative is Lawrence Beech, Winchester College’s Director of Information Technology.

“Over the last five years the School has progressively developed the digital landscape to provide a modern learning environment for our pupils and teaching staff. We want to further build upon this progress and I felt we needed to review our infrastructure and security stance to prepare for increasing demands and a roadmap of rapid change. It was important to get an external perspective from an organisation with excellent knowledge of how independent schools work and how we can make the best from our digital investments. Consequently, we forged a partnership with inTEC Education, recognizing their leading and relevant expertise in this domain.”

Lawrence Beech, Director of Information Technology

How we did it

The school has the highest ambition to create a world leading digital environment for learners. inTEC EDUCATION worked with them to develop their plans and strategic direction. Two specific project streams that were worked on helped the school ensure the infrastructure was prepared for increased demands and was secure from internal and external cyber threats.

The school strategy is to ensure the IT infrastructure will support increasing demands for the next five years and beyond. This is particularly relevant as the school has adopted a 1:1 pupil device programme. inTEC EDUCATION performed a detailed audit of the entire network, reviewing every single network switch in every location, providing an ‘as-is’ report plus recommendations for upgrades and future proofing.
Digital security is a priority for the school and inTEC EDUCATION worked with them to ensure that best practices are in place and maintained. This covered Cloud based systems, with a Microsoft Cloud Security Review plus a Cloud Breach Assessment. Onsite systems were audited as part of a Network Device Configuration Assessment. The school received detailed reports with recommendations for further enhancements.

“I’m delighted that Winchester College chose to work with inTEC EDUCATION on such important strategic IT projects. Lawrence’s vision for the school was clear and forward thinking, so we were pleased to get involved and provide some advice, skills and resources to deliver to the plan. The school is now more confident that their technology and digital landscape will be reliable and secure, coping with future demands and leading to enhanced learning outcomes.”

John Sainthouse, inTEC EDUCATION Group Director

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Case Study: The Oaks Specialist College

The Oaks Specialist College is a Microsoft Showcase College!

Overview of the college

The Oaks is a specialist college for 18-25 year olds with learning difficulties in Kent and East Sussex. The not-for-profit organisation was established in 2018 to follow learners as they graduate from special schools and aid their transition into adult life, by providing them with a tailored study program to meet their individual needs.

The college has demonstrated inspirational guidance and provided incredible opportunities to improve independence for local young adults with learning difficulties through a progressive digital framework. This has led Microsoft to recognise and award The Oaks the prestigious status of being labelled as a ‘Microsoft Showcase College for 2022-23’ (the only SEND Showcase College globally!)

SEND – People with special educational needs or learning difficulties

The beginning of Digital Transformation

Throughout their digital transformation journey, the college has focused on the Specialist Further Education sector and their leadership within this area. Their vision, “to develop digitally empowered young people who have autonomy over their independence”, came to fruition once the college integrated digital transformation into their education transformation plan.

Inevitably, The Oaks found themselves in a position of uncertainty when the national Covid lockdown commenced. The way of teaching their students had to move to remote learning in order to fulfil their learners’ goals and aspirations.

The use of Microsoft Teams became a catalyst to their successful digital transformation journey with the ability to use sign language, body language and visuals through the online video meeting system. The learners’ positive response from the integration onto online learning allowed for the college to exploit Microsoft’s digital services to further develop the future employment and independent potential of their young people. This led to the progression of the day-to-day curriculum with the emphasis on encouraging using accessibility features such as immersive reader, translator and Flipgrid.

Having rapidly discovered the impact of beginning a digital transformation journey, the team at The Oaks focused on the Microsoft Showcase Schools program and maximised the encouragement, support and opportunities the program and framework give.

This opportunity allowed the college to progress their educational transformation further through developing skills, knowledge and digital behaviours in their learners and their staff, sharing best practice and ideas with others along the way.

Introduction to Microsoft Showcase Schools

Microsoft Showcase Schools are a global community of schools using digital transformation to create immersive, inclusive experiences that empower students to achieve more. Each school that enters the program identifies their place on the Showcase School Rubric and makes a conscious effort to leverage their education transformation framework with support of Microsoft.

The Oaks Specialist College were eager to participate in this program because…

“When we investigated the ways to make long-term systemic digital change we wanted to do it in a structured manner, and in a way that was based on research. When we settled on using the Education Transformation Framework we felt that we would benefit from the support and guidance Microsoft provide to setting in their Showcase program. The guidance and support when we were an Incubator College allowed us to benefit from the experiences of others and seek advice using the Microsoft Showcase community”

Elizabeth Wilkins, Digital Lead, The Oaks.

Application process

The college started their digital transformation process with Microsoft in July 2021, when they applied to be an Incubator school (and were the first 18-25 SEND specialist college to do so).

Before earning the prestigious status of being a ‘Showcase College’, The Oaks had to successfully complete the ‘Incubator’ period to prove their dedication to evolving their digital framework. Within this period, they met 6 criteria:

1. Commitment to transform
2. Culture of learning and growth
3. Personalized learning and inclusion
4. Future ready skills
5. Data drives decisions
6. Microsoft solutions impact

To adapt these criteria around their learners’ needs, the college introduced new processes and embedded digital skills holistically across their curriculum.

The college recognised the assisted approach their learners needed in order to fulfil their highest potential. The innovative approaches to learning they adapted included the migration to OneNote, allowing learners to access their materials within and outside their college environment, a ‘60SecondCPD’ to coach and mentor learners with a 60 second video to lower anxiety surrounding change and Microsoft’s product, ‘Lens’, as a form of assistive technology to best cater access to written work.

The incubator program runs up to two academic years however The Oaks graduated from this after just one year! The college stood out for this status by being amongst a few in their incubator group to graduate and be accredited after just one year, with others remaining in the incubator program for a second year.

Getting accredited

The transformative work of the college left Microsoft with no hesitation to award The Oaks as a Microsoft Showcase School in 2022. Their ability to innovate their learners’ platform and lead the future pathway of educational transformation makes the college deserving of this highly respectable status.

Rick Hermann, Vice President of Worldwide Education, commented:

“You are part of an exclusive global community, recognized and celebrated for educational transformation that includes vision and innovation in teaching, learning and preparing students for the future”.

What is next for The Oaks College?

Despite the exceptional work they have done, this is only the beginning of The Oaks’ digital transformation journey. The college have numerous projects planned for the upcoming years, with a particular focus on expanding into new settings of digital strategy to develop further accessible technologies with their learners. They have begun this by setting up a flat with smart home technologies for the learners to utilise and become more autonomous.

Phil Astell, Group Managing Director of the inTEC GROUP, commented:

“We are very grateful to have worked alongside The Oaks to support their IT infrastructure for many years and more recently we assisted them with their Microsoft Showcase School application. Their digital transformation journey has been incredible to witness and we are very excited to see what the future holds for The Oaks. They are such an inspirational and transformative organisation!”

If you would like support in applying for the Microsoft Showcase School & College accreditation, please contact us via our specialist Education division.

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Case Study: Wellington College

Wellington College wanted to take their cyber security to the next level whilst maintaining a seamless easy to use learning environment for pupils & staff.

Enhanced Cyber Security & Web Filtering Case Study

ABOUT

Wellington College wanted to take their cyber security to the next level whilst maintaining a seamless easy to use learning environment for pupils and staff.

THE CHALLENGE

When Wellington College needed to enhance their e-safety, they focused on improving the web fi ltering they had in place and how to take it to the next level. On-line safety for under 18’s is not just about blocking the obvious things, it’s about protecting the innocent. Being alert to issues before they become an actual concern is essential.

The chosen solution had to integrate with other security applications the school had in place. And it was essential for users to have just one username and password allowing them to log into all services and access the web transparently.

Wellington College is a Microsoft Showcase School with a “Choose your own policy” resulting in a broad range of devices that need to be protected.

THE SOLUTION

Wellington College required a secure web content filtering software that was simple to integrate with their current IT infrastructure, and scaleable with their proactive IT policy.

Although exceeding legal cyber safety requirements, Wellington College wanted to be a leader amongst their peer schools in the HMC. inTEC EDUCATION conducted vulnerability and penetration testing of the existing cyber security infrastructure to prove it was robust and highlight any vulnerabilities that needed to be addressed.

iBoss was the ideal solution to address the challenges of e-safety and cyber bullying protection. It also identifies network infections so Wellington College can effectively respond and mitigate threats in real time to prevent data loss or exploitation. inTEC EDUCATION helped to set up rules based web access that enables access to specific content for
selected users, based on the role or position within the school. Installation was swift and seamless, meaning the single sign on vision was delivered quickly and effectively.

THE OUTCOME

Feedback from Wellington College states they can now be much more proactive and they feel confident knowing they have this extra line of security in place. Regular e-safety committee meetings review live iBoss dashboards and reports, heading off issues before they become a problem.

From start to finish, this was a quick and seamless implementation for Wellington College. This was important because was a lot of focus from senior staff to ensure this high profile project delivers the highest standard of on-line protection for pupils.

“As a school we go above and beyond the requirements of current legislation, so when we wanted to step up our e-security to the next level we needed a leading company”

Tony Whelton – Director of IT Services & Development