We recently visited Harris Clapham sixth form, a dedicated co-educational sixth form college for students aged 16-18 with around 600 students. The college is part of Harris Federation, one of the largest trusts in the UK. The trust has over 50 schools and over five and a half thousand members of staff across London and Essex, as well as a teaching school alliance that trains thousands of teachers every year. Harris grouped its academies into distinct regional hubs to manage its large network of schools. All 50 of Harris Federation’s schools have been TrilbyTV customers for the past 4 years.
We met with Adrian Hobbs, IT service manager for the central quadrant looking after nine schools – Harris Clapham Sixth Form being one of them. As well as Stefan Williams, IT Technician at Harris Clapham Sixth Form and Tosin Adeduro, IT Technician for Harris Academy Clapham. We also caught up again with Charles Ealham, Head of service delivery at Harris Federation in Harris HQ in West Croydon, who told us how TrilbyTV was first introduced,
“The first time I came across TrilbyTV would have been at Bett back in 2021/2022. Signage was on our list to look at, because it was something that every school was doing in their own way. There wasn’t a standardised approach across the Federation, either in the software being used or how the content was being produced. So for my remit it was ‘let’s find a good way to deliver the content’.”
The previous makeshift solutions were incredibly time consuming for the IT teams. Before TrilbyTV they had been using various different forms of signage software which didn’t work in the way they wanted. Charles said,
“There were various different devices being used, with USB sticks and all sorts going on. Lots of PowerPoint presentations played from random computers and laptops behind screens or hidden in ceilings.”
And Stefan told us, “We used to do it through a USB dongle. Which wasn’t as efficient because we would have to take that to a computer, upload content on there and do it all manually. Which was quite time consuming.”
Scaling up with ease
Once Charles introduced TrilbyTV, the platform quickly proved its worth. With Charles telling us the main reason TrilbyTV was chosen, “It’s easy to use and from what we saw, I would say it was the best there is.”
The deployment at Harris Academy Clapham expanded organically from just three screens to eleven. Tosin, who had used TrilbyTV at a previous school, immediately saw the potential to ease the IT workload. “I asked to have an administrator account so I can help lighten the load and start doing the displays. Since that time, we have added eight more screens.”
For the Federation, the perfect solution needed to balance centralised efficiency with local autonomy. Charles told us,
“Schools still can do their own thing, however as we’ve got a centralised support, having one system to manage makes everything a lot easier.”
Also Tosin explained how simple it is to check on the screens remotely if needed,
“I can easily check from my phone on my way to work. To see which screens are up and which screens are down. So that way I can just go straight to a screen to make sure it’s up and running.”
Making an instant impression
We then discussed what digital signage can bring to the school, about setting the tone and how you can make an instant impression. By simply sharing pictures of the students and their work, visitors can get a feel for the atmosphere of the school from the screens which can be great for open days or parents evenings.
Stefan told us about the importance of the placement of screens and specific content,
“We have a screen in the reception and we have two screens in the canteen. We tend to display more for the students in the canteen area, and in reception we have signage which can be beneficial for visitors. Parents can see information about the school and its achievements whilst waiting in the reception area.”
“I think it’s a good way to share things in a creative way. Especially for students who tend to be engaged in information that’s more visual, instead of just plain text or notice boards. That was one of the big positives of having it.”
Tosin shared how TrilbyTV is useful for various types of content sharing,
“During the exam periods, we use it to display exam rooms for the students, we set the screens up so it’s easy for us to remind them where they need to be. Also we use it for shout outs, announcements, and student achievements which I think is great.”
Neil Emery, Director at TrilbyTV, talked about how a simple visual can really build the appetite of those young people and for us all. When you see signage out in the real world, it’s not text heavy. The artwork is bright, colourful, can draw you in and makes you want to buy something. It’s the same in education.
Sharing ownership
We also spoke about how staff have been interested in getting involved more with the digital signage content, Stefan explained,
“I’ve recently sent out emails to staff to ask if they want to be involved, I’ve explained to them the process of uploading content, it’s quite straightforward to set someone up and it’s so simple to use.”
“For example with the art department, if they want to display students’ artwork they can do as there’s recently been an update in TrilbyTV with the Smart Content where you can create an art gallery to display work.”
“Hopefully going forward more staff will be uploading content themselves, at the moment staff send me content and I upload it for them. I’m quite happy to do it because it’s easy to use, so it’s not very time consuming. Hopefully more staff in the future will be more involved that way.”
Being creative and learning new skills
Beyond streamlining the workload, TrilbyTV has also sparked personal creativity and influenced student behaviour.As Stefan explains:
“Even the Smart Content helps me to think of ways to create my own content, it’s great to personalise what we’re displaying. It’s helped me to think of more creative ways of working and thinking when I’ve made something on platforms like Canva. I’ve developed some new skills as well.”
“I did a poll and it created friendly competition with the students. It involved things like punctuality, getting good grades, attendance. It helped with behavior and students actually turning up. Some of their friends might say, ‘come on, we need to win because we can get a prize at the end’. Which worked as an incentive.”
What should digital signage do? What should it be? What should it enable?
One of the key things we think about when creating digital signage content is what it should do, be and enable. When it comes to creating impactful digital signage, the Harris IT team agrees that less is definitely more.
Inform, engage, connect
Tosin notes that good signage must immediately connect with the viewer,
“Every form of digital signage, regardless of what signage it is, has three important factors, which is to inform, engage and connect. It’s the same when driving on a motorway and you see a sign saying the speed limit has changed, you have to quickly digest what’s happening and then engage and connect.”
Simplify the message
“I think it should simplify how people can take in information. It should stand out, be engaging, bright, and colourful,” said Stefan.
Keep it visual
“I always think less is more,” Adrian advised. “The image should sell what you’re trying to say. Perhaps send them somewhere else for more information with a QR code or a tiny URL link. There shouldn’t be too much text.”
When asked if they would recommend TrilbyTV, the answer was unanimous.
“It’s been easy, nothing’s too much trouble,” said Charles. “I’d recommend it 100%.” Stefan agreed: “Yes, I would definitely recommend it.”
It was lovely catching up with the staff at Harris Federation and was great to hear about their digital signage journey so far, we can’t wait to hear how it develops. If you’re interested in discovering more about how TrilbyTV will make an impact in your school or trust, sign up for a 30 day trial or find out even more by booking a demo with one of our experts and see the platform in action.