Windmill Primary School
1:1 Pilot Programme
This is the story of Windmill Primary School. A forward-thinking primary based in Telford, with a vision of having 1:1 student devices throughout the school.
As the school works towards making this vision a reality, the plan is to capture the progress made, from the quick wins to the barriers they have to overcome and then share this to help other schools decide if 1:1 devices are right for them.
About the School
Windmill Primary School, is a two-form entry primary school based in an area of deprivation with over 50% of students accessing free school meals. The school is part of the Community Academies Trust and was rated Good by Ofsted in September 2022.
The Headteacher Mark Gibbons, has been at the school for many years and in the past Mark actually led a strategy to deploy 1:1 devices at Windmill. Unfortunately, due to circumstances at the time, the first 1:1 programme was not sustainable and Mark is now using the lessons learnt to approach this 1:1 programme differently.
'Having 1:1 devices should not be there as an extra, it should be at the heart of the way we want our children to use the tools around them to help them learn better'
February 2023
The journey begins when the school joined the Microsoft Accelerate & Demonstrate Programme (A&D) delivered by Microsoft Global Training Partner, TA Education (TA).
A&D is designed to help schools (and MAT's) to accelerate their digital transformation and participating schools gain access to unlimited edtech consultancy and 21 hours of training.
Through consultation with TA, a strategy was identified that involved introducing 1:1 devices in one of two Year 4 classes. This approach would allow the school to compare the progress made compared to the class without the 1:1 devices. This was the first stage in a 1:1 strategy based on small steps, and we only moved on to the next stage once staff were confident and the impact could be seen.
A ruggedised HP Windows 10 device was identified as the device of choice, including a stylus for inking and a world facing camera.
April 2023
The pilot devices were sourced from Edge Computers who came forward to support this programme by providing a free class set of 35 devices. Edge specialises in running 1:1 programmes and they felt that the outcomes of this pilot could benefit their customers.
Edge worked with Telford & Wrekin Council IT Services (T&W) to utilise Microsoft Intune to provision the devices before they arrived at the school, so they were ready for students to sign in and start using from day one.
'We need more evidence around how 1:1 devices can have an impact in primary education, that’s why we felt this programme was important.'
July 2023
Having started the project believing that the school's infrastructure was ready when 30+ devices arrived in the classroom and started streaming online content, it soon became apparent that wasn't the case.
The school had a 1GB connection to the outside world and a good network in place, but the failure on this occasion came in the form of an ageing Wireless Access Point that wasn't capable of supporting the volume of devices.
September 2023
With advice from TA trainers, and learning from past experiences, the classroom management of 30+ devices in the room was soon in place. Students quickly adapted to how they needed to be responsible for their own device, and what was expected from them.
November 2023
Having settled into the new academic year, the school have been able to reflect on the progress made and overall, the pilot has been deemed a success.
- Students have become more confident with their digital skills and are happy to help each other, taking the pressure off the teacher.
- Data point 1
- The initial buzz of having devices in the class has faded away and students are able to produce more work than before, especially as their typing skills have developed.
- Data point 2
January 2024
Based on the success of the pilot programme and the impact seen, the school has ordered a second set of 1:1 devices from Edge Computers for the other Year 4 class.
The school will self-fund these devices and a wraparound service that includes spare units, and all repairs or replacements required. The plan is to monitor the savings achieved in other areas such as paper, photocopying and glue sticks to see if the cost can be balanced out over time.
Spring term will see the introduction of the class teams and class notebooks.
