Stockport Academy is part of a cluster of schools based in the Greater Manchester area and are part of United Learning Trust. The schools originally used a freeware system but it had become really hard to use, to the point where it was no longer working,
“It was unmanageable,” Marketing and Communications Cluster Manager, Chris Prince told us. “We couldn’t get it to work half of the time and when we did, it would just slow the whole system down. Logistically it didn’t work either, you’d have to login to each computer separately and set it up.”
Finding the right digital signage solution
The task of finding a more efficient system was tasked to IT Service Manager, Mark Davies who had a clear understanding of the requirements,
“Like many previous systems I’d used, our current system had to be micromanaged by the IT department, leaving no room for ownership. So when I started to look, my criteria was that we need something simple to use that could be easily managed and updated. We needed something that would allow us to put the content on that we wanted, with that “wow” factor to capture the imagination of the children. It also needed it to be scalable and not cost the Earth.”
Book a TrilbyTV Demo
Book free DemoMark had seen how other schools were using TrilbyTV on bulletin boards and social media. So both he and Chris booked a free demo and they were really impressed from the get-go,
“I was completely blown away,” said Chris. “I was like wow, I can see this working. It was so much better than our current solution. I could see the impact that it would actually have, which got me really excited. Simple things like auto delete really impressed me, minimising the work. It was clear that TrilbyTV allowed digital signage to slot in so you can just crack on and forget about it.”
Mark added, “Onboarding was so smooth, it was so straightforward and simple to do. The single interface is great! I’m a team administrator centrally, giving the rights to all of the schools. Even though we’re technically the admin, the simplicity of the software has meant that we could just push it out to different individuals to manage and upload their own content. When we got it all set up, I saw a group of students watching the screen. I heard one say, ‘I didn’t realise that we had our own TV station.’ For me, that summed up the impact it was creating.” Since installing TrilbyTV, Chris has found the platform perfect for promoting the school, “We’re always looking to raise the aesthetic around school, part of the marketing strategy is very much to get prospective parents and pupils through the door to see what the school is like. Once they’re in you just blow them away. TrilbyTV adds to that ‘wow factor’ creating a platform for us to showcase videos, animations and make the school look good. It’s also encouraged us to evolve in the way that we communicate internally to students, in terms of the wider school objectives. It lets students know that they have all of the tools available to them to achieve their ambitions; signposting revision resources, any open days for higher and further education, trips and extracurricular activity. It’s a form of advertising and with the repetition it’s more effective than traditional ways like posters.”
The impact that digital signage has had on the cluster
Since installing TrilbyTV, the clusters digital signage estate has grown,
“It’s had a snowball effect,” said Mark. “From the setup which was easy to do, it took us two days from start to finish and to hear one of the principals say ‘wow’, I knew that it had an impact straight away. We’ve seen the growth in schools wanting more screens which has been fantastic.”
Summing up his experience with TrilbyTV, Mark had this to say,
“It’s so intuitive. The support has also been fantastic, being on hand at any time. We’ve not had any tech issues and it’s so easy to pick up, that anyone can run with it.”
Chris added, “It’s so easy to use, we even have students creating content with a book review of the week. It’s fantastic.”
If you’d like to learn more about how TrilbyTV can help your school switch on its signage, then book a free demo session here.