 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||
- Home
- Education Executive
- ICT Matters
- About Us
- Editor's Blog
- Events
- For Advertisers
- News
- Product News
- Resources
- Useful Links
- Subscribe
FEATURE: Room with a view
Released 23/01/2012
All Saints Junior School in Reading was one of the first free schools, opening its doors in September. Jonathan Hills finds out about the school’s deployment of a cost-effective technology solution in the classroom – the ‘server room in a box’
Despite presently having a single year-three class, the school expects to grow into treble figures over the course of the next few years
Despite being one of only 24 free schools in the country, the most striking thing about All Saints Junior School in Reading is its size. With just one teacher, 16 pupils, a single classroom and a headmistress, the school is limited in its capacity, staff and resources – ambitions for the future however, are not so limited.
Despite presently having a single year-three class, the school expects to grow into treble figures over the course of the next few years. The ambition for All Saints is that it reaches its full capacity of 120 pupils once all year groups have been filled and the school moves into its new premises at the start of the next academic year. The class therefore must be educated from the confines of a single room currently situated within the local All Saints Church Hall, until their permanent residence, August House is completed in September. All Saints Junior School recently secured planning permission for the renovation of the building on the 10 November to coincide with the influx of the additional pupils.
Headteacher, Susannah Daniel comments on the challenge of trying to set up technological infrastructure within the school throughout its first year: “Keeping costs down and being environmentally friendly is important, but the main thing from our point of view was that we went with what was right for us at the time,” she says. “Our temporary accommodation meant that we just did not have space for a traditional server room.”
Lisa Fidler, assistant director, early years and primary education schools and nurseries at CfBT Education trust, who helped establish the school along with the All Saints parent action group, the concurs: “When setting up the school we wanted a very small server that would just sit in the corner and not disturb the children,” she says, stating that All Saints needed the solution to could fit seamlessly into the running of the school administration without impeding upon the education of its students learning nearby.
Furthermore, the solution would require sufficient versatility so that it could easily be transferred to the new premises once the new school property was fully refurbished and its size grew, while still remaining sufficiently powerful to cope with the additional workload as the school personnel and pupil numbers grow. In addition to this as the server was to be used as part of a working classroom, the safety of the equipment for and from the children working nearby was also a major concern.
Substantial advancements made by manufacturers to make server technology available for smaller clients, such as schools and small businesses, over the past few years has allowed for the stringent requirements of All Saints Junior School to be met. “We just put our needs out to tender and got some great responses,” comments Fidler on the process of finding the server, stating that the solution would hopefully be transferred to the new premises once complete “but we intend to invest more in the technology of the school as we expand,” she added.
A rare case
Due to the limitations on space and limited facilities, the problem faced by the school was how to establish an ICT server during the first year while the school was being run from the single classroom without having to purchase another server the following year when they relocate and the number of pupils and administration demands increase.
Therefore, the amount of space that could be spared for an IT system was minimal, as was the tolerance for any excess heat and noise that servers can often generate. Therefore the server that All Saints require would have to take the shape and function of a piece of furniture while simultaneously performing its role to its client computers.
After some shopping around, the school managed to find a server that qualified for all of its criteria, at an affordable price bracket and safe enough for the children. Dubbed the “server room in a box”, the machine looks like a small wardrobe, and is sufficiently movable and unobtrusive to be deployed within the classroom without need for extensive and costly installation or floor space. The server also includes security measures against theft and fraud such as an unauthorised access detector and real-time fault alerts so that the information valuable to the school can be kept safe at all times.
In addition the expectations the server uses forced-air ventilation allowing for the system to run smoothly, at consistent temperature and with minimal noise and energy consumption – something that can continue to save the school money as time runs on. The staff at All Saints are expecting to transfer the server into the new premises as planned, and look forward to moving into the new building. “The new building is becoming very real which is exciting for the children and staff,” says Daniel on securing planning permission for the school. “We are all looking forward to watching it take shape in the next year and preparing to move in September.”
The “server room in a box” that All Saints Junior School managed to find demonstrates the versatility and potential of emerging technologies that can be suited to even the smallest school without great expense. With the continued integration of software solutions to determine behaviour, the administration of staff and pupil attendance, as well as curriculum and attainment levels –servers can now be tailored to even the smallest institutions to enable them to keep up with the rest in technological prowess.