Churston Ferrers Grammar School sees a communication revolution with G Suite and Chromebooks

The great thing about Chromebooks is that they just work. We took them out of the box and gave them straight to the students as there is no set-up work to be done. Ideally we would like to replace all our netbooks with Chromebooks as soon as possible.

Ben Forte, IT Network Manager at Churston

Reto

Churston strongly believes in the importance of introducing students to digital communication methods, believing this can help engage them, boost interaction with teachers, broaden their learning experience and prepare them for the world of work and further study. It also sees great value in the use of technology to streamline administrative processes. The school has invested heavily in technology over the last few years and now offers six computer suites, each with 30 PCs, a digital signage system for school announcements, laptops for use in classes and a new wifi system. However, Churston still had some technical issues with hardware and email communications holding it back from its vision of becoming a digitally equipped learning environment.

Solución

After considering a number of options for improving its email, Churston chose the online collaboration and communications suite G Suite for Education, which includes Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar and Google Sites. Since switching to G Suite, email has become a key method of communication between staff, students and parents and the G Suite is extensively used for collaboration in and out of the classroom. Following this success, Churston is now trialling ten Chromebooks with a view to rolling them out more widely to replace the school’s current laptops when they reach end-of-life.