We recently visited Francis Taylor, Assistant Head, Admissions and External Relations at St John’s College, Cardiff. The last time we visited we filmed our video case study, which overall had a fantastic outcome. This time we wanted to catch up with Francis to see what’s new and what’s changed since our last visit. Francis began by telling us how their digital signage has evolved,
“We’ve managed to install more screens. In fact as we sit talking today we’ve got a screen just to our immediate left which is about to go to the music department and we’ll showcase our first signage screen in portrait orientation. I think the biggest improvement since the case study was because so many of the staff and students saw that video and were inspired by it. We’ve got more departments who are now getting involved with digital signage.”
“More people are showcasing work that’s taking place in the classrooms but also we’ve got students creating their own content. So as a direct result of the case study we’ve had our Eco Wear group, who are TrilbyTV Trailblazers this year. They have now started putting content onto the screens and we’ve also established our digital signage club in the junior school.”
We then asked Francis about their initiative for reusing screens around the school,
“When someone finds a screen that can be repurposed within the school, they get brownie points for showing a lot of initiative but they also get three things for repurposing a screen. First of all they get training on the use of TrilbyTV which is incredibly important, the second thing they get is an Amazon fire stick and this allows them to put the signage onto the screen they’ve found, which is a really good incentive. Thirdly, but most importantly, they get that golden opportunity to share with the school community everything that’s going on either within that particular classroom or that particular department, which more than anything I think is the most valuable thing.”
“One of the screens upstairs was my mother-in-laws, which sat in her living room for many years and it’s now been repurposed by our science department. It’s a little 32 inch Sony, it’s probably knocking on towards 15 or so years old but it’s still going strong and the science department got a free fire stick and they get the wall mounting and timer plugs as well.”
Screen competition
We know how much of an influence technology can have environmentally and it’s always good to be mindful of the impact and positive changes that we can all make. Hearing about the initiative at St John’s College of repurposing screens, we are running a competition to win a TV. In the full spirit of sustainability, the TV we are giving away is not new and was previously used on our Bett stand. It is a 42” LG brand screen and includes a remote control. To use it as a signage screen, you’ll need a player device and a suitable mounting bracket. Depending on the winner’s location, the TV will be delivered by one of the TrilbyTV team or sent via courier. We’d also love to get a photo of the screen once installed to share with others.
Competition has ended.
Congratulations to the winner – David Nicoll at The Edinburgh Academy Junior School!
Content & ideas
Going back to our visit with Francis, we then discussed new updates and launches within our Content Catalogue and what St John’s College like to display on their screens,
“One of my biggest discoveries was when I was on a webinar with you, Neil, not so long ago and you talked about the Birthday content available. Previously, every week I’d gone on to our MIS and manually put all the birthdays in on Google Slides which was fine but I uploaded the CSV to the Birthday Smart Content and I’ve never looked back, it’s been marvellous.”
“Also just having access to things like the Biology, Chemistry and Physics slides for our Science department and my big favourite at the moment is the International Events content, which I think is absolutely fantastic. It makes you aware of lots of events in the world which to be honest with you would probably have completely passed you by without that content.”
“Being able to put our Instagram feed on the screens builds a stronger sense of community. As Instagram is definitely our major social media platform now, to have that on the screens through TrilbyTV is incredibly important. Being able to share those achievements and its ability to draw attention to something that again might have just passed people by had they not seen that flick of a message on the screen, it’s really important.”
“I think any good signage and positive communication of messages can help new students and staff. Having the ability to communicate new initiatives that we want everyone to be aware of and also partnerships, like SOCS for instance. We’ve been able to put up QR codes on the screens for parents as we know we’ve got parental footfall and they can log in to the system.”
“Being able to put reminders out does have an impact on new staff and parents as well because they are seeing those important messages. Something I’m aware of as we inevitably go even more digital as a school is that with investing in lots of different platforms, I think it’s important that those platforms are showcased on our digital signage to give parents the reminders of what they need to be able to sign in and out of and have access to.”
Priorities & goals
We then discussed if their digital signage priorities and goals have changed, also what they would you like to do with their digital signage in the future,
“I think our overall aim as a school is still to provide a really good rounded education. But I think from an objective point of view there are so many ways that we can enhance our pupils’ experience here and I think digital signage can play a part there. We talked about showcasing pupils’ work, pupil initiatives like the Eco Wear scheme for instance. I think that has made us focus on how we communicate our goals.”
Five considerations for digital signage
Download free PDF“I’d like more screens, I’d like more smart plugs and I’d like to give even more control to other departments to be managing content. I would love to be in a situation where every single department of the school has digital signage representation at some point in the future. I think realistically within three years I can’t see why that wouldn’t be achievable with a good roll out of new screens.”
“RGS talked about the democratisation of digital signage and it’s just that. It’s giving people a way to go and get on with creating that content to share. Using Google slides is very helpful to us because we’re able to do it with ease, you don’t even need to touch TrilbyTV necessarily. When you update the slide, the screens update themselves that’s ready to then be showcased and that’s the most important thing.”
Development and how TrilbyTV has evolved
We then talked about if Francis had noticed how the development of TrilbyTV has evolved over the years,
“I remember having our first trial with TrilbyTV nearly three years ago now and I was immediately impressed with what is a no nonsense, simple to use, accessible, adaptable and interesting platform. I set up a mobile screen for a parents evening and ran content through TrilbyTV and I thought ‘this is so good.’ Unfortunately, we had to serve a contract with a previous provider but then we spoke again around April or May the following year. We then signed up just before the end of the Summer holiday, got the content moving and hit the ground running September 2022. Since joining, there’s been a huge amount of Content Catalogue updates and Smart Content that I really enjoy using.”
St John’s College have a digital signage club at their junior school and have also taken part in this year’s TrilbyTV Trailblazers. We asked Francis how the club first started,
“The junior school has a dedicated enrichment period on a Wednesday afternoon and what the Head of Junior’s decided to do was to set up a signage club. This allowed the juniors to create content that interests them and what they thought would interest their peers, to be displayed on the junior school screen. I think in the end we had about seven or eight in the first group and then the same amount joined in for the second time. They use Google slides and they simply update their slides every week with something that has taken their interest.”
“More than anything else, it was interesting to see how good they were initially with Google slides. But actually seeing how much their content on the screen not only gave them a sense of achievement and pride but also enhanced their skills. Because their signage got better and better as it went on, we’re going to start the club again in the new academic year and hopefully bring it into the senior school as well.”
Francis then led on to talk about being a part of TrilbyTV Trailblazers 2024,
“Eco Wear as an organisation is a student-led body and what they do is they sell and process second-hand uniforms to our parents and school community. They run everything through contactless payment with Square and they sell our uniform at discount prices. An integral part of their project this year was to target the leavers in Year 11 because they don’t need the uniform anymore when they go into our Sixth form. They wanted to make sure that they captured as much of that uniform as possible and were then able to sell it back into the community, but the beauty of Eco Wear is that it’s like a social enterprise. They sell things at a discounted rate so it’s very reasonable for parents but the money raised, only a tiny fraction covers their very limited costs and the rest goes to either school projects or to external charities.”
“They used digital signage this year to promote Eco Wear. As they haven’t used it before, it was new for them and they really wanted to get involved and have that TrilbyTV platform to promote it. We were able to set the right posters on the right screens at the right time when we knew parents would be around. We had our summer fayre a couple of weeks ago and on the front lawns we had a big screen out under a gazebo and they were just blasting Eco Wear material and QR codes and it literally generated sales.”
Finally, Francis told us about their overall experience with TrilbyTV so far and our ongoing support,
“I’ve never felt that I couldn’t email yourself or any of the team and ask for some help or some guidance. I get periodic emails from your team asking for a quick catch up or just making sure we’re okay. We’ve had the pleasure of doing the video case study and today’s visit, it’s just been lovely and we thoroughly enjoy our relationship with TrilbyTV. I can see the platform just getting better and better but not in the sense that it gets over engineered. It’s never lost the core usability and I think that’s what makes it so appealing, it just makes sense.”
It was lovely to see Francis again and catch up with everything since our last visit. We are excited to see all of the amazing things they will continue to create at St John’s College, Cardiff. If you’re interested in seeing how TrilbyTV can make a difference to your school digital signage, sign up for a free demo or try it out for yourself with a 30 day trial.