langham primary school case study

15th Jul 2009 (15:06:59) by Martin

Beaver Solutions, part of the Beaver Group, provided a digital signage system for the Langham Church of England Primary School, Rutland. The new screens are used to deliver information, messages and news for pupils, visitors and staff, as well as a live video feed of the school’s own birdhouse.

Beaver Solutions worked in partnership with A2Z, the incumbent IT specialists at the school. A2Z had previous experience of digital signage for education, by using screens with an ‘out-of-the-box’ solution; but this had proven a bad experience for A2Z. When Beaver Solutions and A2Z met Langham School at the BETT Show 2009, an improved solution was chosen for running the school’s new screens.

Birds-eye view

The aim of the digital screens is to provide an efficient method of showcasing the children’s work, show news, messages and announce upcoming events for visitors and parents. The screens also show a live video of the school’s birdhouse, which has proved very popular with the children and adults alike. As the seasons go by, people can watch this ‘Birdhouse TV’, as the birds lay eggs and raise their chicks.

Langham Primary wanted a digital notice board for posting messages, as another way of communicating with people. The messages, pictures and video on the screens is updated via a web-page and school news is delivered directly from the school’s existing news section of their website. This means that there is no additional effort to show up-to-date information and messages on the screens and messages can be posted very easily.

Using a digital notice board also saves a lot of time when compared to what the school was previously doing. Instead of choosing which photos to show, then taking the time to print them out and put them up; all photographs and examples of pupil work can be shown on the screens, which saves time and money, as well as giving all the children a chance to show off their work.

Digital signage for education

Beaver Solutions has provided the planning, content design, web tools, hardware, installation and the on-going support. All the technical aspects of the digital signage were handled in-house by Beaver Solutions, so that Langham School has a simple and fully functional system with the minimum of hassle.

The screens have become a popular feature at the school, which is benefitting from the up-to-date communication, as well as the popular Birdhouse TV. In addition, the screens have become a feature of the curriculum in the school, helping the children to learn more about their environment.
Digital signage from Beaver Solutions has given this school improved communications and a great way to engage the children, as well as fitting with the school’s environment as a modern and exciting place to learn.

To talk about how digital signage can improve communications and engage with people in education, please get in touch. 

better digital signage at the BETT show

20th Jan 2009 (12:54:34) by Peter

Last week, Beaver Solutions attended the BETT Show in partnership with A2Z Computers. It was a very well attended show and the quality of visitors was very high. Despite the current economic situation, 2009 looks like it will be a busy year for digital signage in education and beyond.

One of the interesting things to come out from talking to the visitors, was that those who have deployed digital signage and use stand-alone systems in their school are not finding the systems to be nearly as useable as they had hoped.

Schools are experiencing a range of issues with these stand-alone installations: Can’t update except when sat at the machine, no live data, no integration with existing systems and difficulty in expanding the system, lack of support and changes to content. In short, visitors told us whilst their stand-alone systems were perceived to be a simple and quick solution, the school actually needed something more versatile and professional, which was considered and built to fit their specific need.

Beaver Solutions partnered with A2Z Computers, a specialist in educational IT, and showed an integrated system using Scala5, delivering content from live data sources and updateable using a web-based application. This tool allows content to be managed from any location which is connected to the internet and the system can also be expanded without duplicating effort.

beaver site is finalist in third sector awards

15th Dec 2008 (14:50:11) by Doug

The School Governors’ One-Stop Shop (SGOSS) “Fresh Faces” website was a finalist in the Third Sector Excellence Awards 2008. The website, design by Beaver Design, was shortlisted amongst some strong competition, but was beaten by Leonard Cheshire Disability.

The Third Sector Excellence Awards are intended to recognize and celebrate the vital work done by the voluntary sector and the role they play “as the conscience of society”.

To view the SGOSS website, please go to www.sgoss.org.uk/freshfaces/

back to school

22nd Oct 2008 (15:39:09) by Dave

A recent request from Moss Bury Primary School and Nursery in Stevenage saw Beaver Design back at school for a few days photographing for the new prospectus.

The design for the new 26 page prospectus features images of pupils and staff, both at work and play as well as providing all the vital school information needed by prospective parents.

Beaver is proud to be chosen to provide design work to another local educational institution.

For more information of the school and a copy of the prospectus, please click here.

fresh faces website launched

22nd Feb 2008 (11:53:03) by James

Fresh Faces, Fresh Voices! Beaver Group have recently launched a new website for The School Governors’ One-Stop Shop (SGOSS). SGOSS is a charity that recruits volunteers to become governors in schools across England, and their new site “Fresh Faces” is aimed at strengthening the diversity of schools’ governing bodies by encouraging more young people to volunteer. We have developed the site utilising our simple Content Management System, allowing SGOSS to update the sites content.

To view the site and find out more, please go to: www.sgoss.org.uk/freshfaces