We recently caught up with Bartholomew School, part of EPA Trust in Oxfordshire. Having been using TrilbyTV for over 3 years it was great to chat with Trina Wood, Communications Lead, to find out how TrilbyTV helps keep the school community engaged and informed.
Rewind back three years and with screens already in place but not in use, Trina was keen to utilise them. She could see the benefits of using the screens as a way to communicate with the Bartholomew community:
“So that was when the conversation started with my IT team and they did a bit of research and came up with TrilbyTV as a recommended software. We had a trial, it worked well, it seemed easy to use and we haven’t looked back.”
Despite Trina’s busy schedule, TrilbyTV makes it easy to regularly upload content such as the school celebrations, house points as well as weekly Food Hall menus. In the future, she’d like to plan out a content calendar. She told us,
“I would love to look a week ahead or a month to schedule content.”
Repurposing content
Checking sources such as Google Classroom and end of term newsletters which are shared digitally via the website, Trina is able to repurpose content and use TrilbyTV as a means for reinforcing messages. Looking out for Parents Evenings, Year 7 Open Evenings and Sixth Form Open Evenings, Trina creates content specifically for these events.
“We’ll do some promotional filming and we’ll get a photographer in and then it’s really nice to just display those around. Also, it’s lovely to keep that going for another couple of days in school and the whole community enjoys it.”
It was enlightening to hear the success of a recent competition as part of the school’s open evening. Linked with the European Day of Languages, the school held a House Bake Off Competition where students were asked to make a cake that represents a country.
Trina shared, “We had a mind blowing 64 entries. 85 students took part and it was bigger than we’ve ever done before. I think, communicating that these are happening really helps to generate that sense of community and then afterwards we displayed all the photos and it was great. You can see the children really enjoying looking at it and I think it’s filling them with pride and is a really nice positive thing to do.”
A fantastic example of the growing awareness and engagement of the competition which helped lead to its success.
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Book free DemoAnnouncements
Personal Development lessons take place every fortnight on a Thursday and these are sometimes taught on a carousel basis, separately from the rest of their timetable, therefore it’s really useful to remind everyone where students need to go (or where to find them!). The announcement feature works perfectly as students are moving around school and helps ensure that everyone gets to the right place on time.
Using Canva to create most of the content, Trina is positively creating a Canva revolution, helping to unlock skills and encourage staff to use the tool to create engaging content. We talked about the dynamic link between Canva and TrilbyTV, which is one of Trina’s eureka moments.
Learning that you can add your Canva presentations to TrilbyTV as web content is a huge time saver. Meaning any edits that need to be made to the Canva creations only need to be updated in Canva which automatically updates live in TrilbyTV.
Title slides are also well used for quick messages such as last minute notices for the football practice or when art school is cancelled.
Pastoral support
As well as day to day information and celebrations, Bartholomew School also makes use of TrilbyTV to subtly reinforce pastoral support.
Trina explained, “We’ve got a programme called Whisper, which is a Text service where students can report any worries or bullying, and we have the Yellow Bag Scheme, which is free menstruation products for anyone that needs them in and around the school.”
By displaying these resources on the screens, it helps to keep the awareness there for when help is needed.
Positivity
Whilst visiting Bartholomew School it was clear to see that TrilbyTV is used to promote positivity. It was refreshing to see that there were no news headlines being broadcast on the screens, but instead a focus on the students with celebrations, support and empowerment. With a good luck message to those students taking part in the Senior Maths Challenge that morning.
Whilst Trina predominantly manages the content on TrilbyTV it was fantastic to hear of the wonderful catering staff’s involvement. With an enthusiastic Food Hall team and chef who eagerly promotes themed lunches, summer BBQs on the playground and more. TrilbyTV is used to help generate awareness and publicity for the school community.
In addition, the Library Ambassadors launched a summer reading competition which they actively promoted through TrilbyTV. It’s fantastic to learn how the students made a video to advertise their competition and as innovative, digital content creators, these opportunities help to develop confidence, digital skills and promote student voice.
Always keen to maximise the use of technology to support communications, Trina told us about their plans to develop the use of TrilbyTV further. With the Sixth Form growing and a new workspace opening, the school is planning to install two additional screens, one for the Sixth Form study centre, and the other for the staff room for internal communication.
“To share Sixth Form-specific content and give our Student Leadership Team the opportunity to communicate directly with their fellow students in Year 12 and 13. This will be a really useful way for the whole Sixth Form Team to share messages.”
It’s empowering to learn that Student Leaders have first opportunities to create and share bespoke content to their peers which helps to create a sense of ownership.
Reflecting on the impact of TrilbyTV
As students come to the end of the school journey at Bartholomew School, it was positive to hear how the school shares Leavers’ event photos and reminders about how to join their alumni to reinforce the sense of belonging and community. The school alumni play an important role in helping to inspire, guide and shape students’ future pathways.
It was great catching up with Trina and finding out first hand the impact that TrilbyTV has had at Bartholomew School. Trina wrapped up our conversation by telling us that digital signage should be “engaging, targeted and current”. If you’d like to achieve the same results in your school, why not book a free demo with us. You can even try out TrilbyTV by signing up for a 30-day free trial to see how it works for your school or trust.