Client name . Bedford Modern School, Bedford, Bedfordshire
Sector . Education
Summary comment . Gary Jones, Head of Faculty, Art – Design – Information – Technology,
Bedford Modern School
"Because FileMaker has been so effortless to evolve in line with the school's needs we are constantly striving to add more and more functionality. We are able to adapt the system as and when we spot a potential cost saving, which considering the current economic climate, is a real benefit."
Bedford Modern School
FileMaker Receives Top Marks with Bedford Modern School
Bedford Modern School is an independent school for girls and boys aged 7 to 18 years old which has successfully built a reputation for exceptional academic standards alongside a forward-looking attitude.
Bedford Modern needed to improve the way it tracked and reported academic data throughout the school year, while providing a tailored management system to enable student registration in each lesson, rather than the standard 'twice a day'. Its existing database had consistently been unable to offer this functionality.
After the success of a 'test' database, developed by the school's Head of Faculty for Art, Design & ICT, was adopted as the de facto information management tool – immediately transforming the school's registration, tracking and reporting processes. Next year, the school will trial emailing PDFs of yearly academic reports to parents, potentially making a substantial saving in print costs alone.
- Ability to register students in all six periods has enabled teachers to track attendance throughout the entire school day
- Reporting overview for tutors and Heads of Year, and rapid access to all student data even when teachers are remote working
- Centralised academic annual reporting and term tracking ensures substantial reductions in administration hours
- Unique and adaptable information management system received positive feedback during 2008 ISI inspection
A rapidly developing school with 1163 students and 120 teachers, Bedford Modern School has a need to constantly adapt its information management and to provide its staff, students and parents with the most accurate and usable data possible. As a result of a working committee established and chaired by the Assessment Manager, Ian Grainger, it took the decision to build and implement a unique data management approach through the deployment of FileMaker.
Challenging Criteria
Head of the Art, Design & Information Technology Faculty at Bedford Modern School, Gary Jones said, "The committee agreed it was necessary to update and improve our data collection processes in order to reduce the very significant 'man-hours' of managing academic reporting. Also highlighted was a requirement to provide staff with access to student data and reports from any location, including home. Crucially, any solution had to be simple to use to minimise training costs. It was a tough specification list to meet."
Bedford Modern School was also keen that the new information management system would improve the design of, and information within, student reports and trackers sent to parents. With large quantities of reporting data needing to be managed on over 1160 students, including the six academic tracking points created to monitor behaviour, class work and homework alongside student attainment level (A+ – E- graded) on a twice per term basis, the reports needed to be easy to create and evaluate by both teachers and parents.
However, according to Gary Jones, the most demanding of the criteria was for electronic registration to be rolled out across the school for all six periods each day, rather than the standard afternoon and morning registration. The ultimate aim was to provide staff with the ability to combat lateness and record and monitor attendance from 8.50am to 4pm.
Customised Confidence
During the evaluation process, Bedford Modern School considered its current database software for the task. However, following a 'test' system based on FileMaker Pro, it was decided that the system could offer far more flexibility and customisation than any other solution in the market.
Gary Jones continues, "After a successful and problem-free development and trial, our decision was easily made. FileMaker ticked all the right boxes, and for the past three years its adaptability has enabled us to evolve the system to suit our needs. Our staff have been able to learn to use the system very quickly thanks to the familiar web-based appearance, and all our teachers now view it as an integral and essential part of their roles."
Student Teacher Benefits
The school now uses FileMaker to register students in every class, aiding and improving attendance recording. In addition, yearly academic reporting and twice-term academic tracking is managed through FileMaker. Significantly, it is now possible for teachers to complete reports from home and to view multiple reports at one time – making significant time savings.
Even students are taking advantage of the school's information management system. Senior School Year Groups are given access to the IT Suites on a weekly basis to allow them to report and feedback on the co-curricular activities that are a vital element of independent schooling. The system also enables Heads of House to verify the information included by students before being inserted into the annual reports distributed to parents.
FileMaker Future
Bedford Modern School has made considerable financial savings through the development and ongoing improvement of its FileMaker database in-house and hopes to continue with this. Next year, the school will trial emailing PDFs of yearly academic reports to parents, potentially making a substantial annual saving in print costs alone.
Gary Jones concludes, "Because FileMaker has been so effortless to evolve in line with the school's needs we are constantly striving to add more and more functionality. We are able to adapt the system as and when we spot a potential cost saving, which considering the current economic climate, is a real benefit."
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