We caught up with Isobel Care, Marketing & Digital Communications Co-ordinator and Matt Liddiard (IT), from Newcastle High School for Girls in Newcastle Upon Tyne. The school, which is an independent day school for girls aged between 3-18 is part of the Girls’ Day School Trust which has 25 independent girls’ schools including two academies across the UK.
We wanted to speak to Isobel and Matt to see the ways that digital signage has had an impact in the school since installing TrilbyTV earlier this year and how digital signage also plays an important part in the day to day elements of the Marketing and IT departments.
Five considerations for digital signage
Download free PDFIsobel began by telling us about what was in place before having TrilbyTV at Newcastle High School for Girls:
“We had a few screens up before that were just linked directly and would show PowerPoint presentations. There wasn’t a system in place to keep it flowing and it would just be a case of creating something on them, putting it up, taking it down, then swapping it.”
Now that TrilbyTV is the system in place, Newcastle High School for Girls can update their feeds and get content out quickly as and when it’s needed. This can also be helpful when planning content schedules as Isobel told us,
“We do have content in place for the school during certain weeks, so we will have content showing for ‘Mental Health Week’ and then we’ll have a ‘Go Green Week’ showcasing content that’s related to that. We plan it a few weeks in advance, if there’s a certain ‘Week’ coming up, TrilbyTV’s flexibility allows us to get content and announcements out quickly and efficiently.”
Demonstrating why TrilbyTV’s ease of use is so important
The school has also been using resources from our Content Catalogue, taking the pressure away from creating their own content and how it’s one of the most useful features.
“It’s so easy, just putting a playlist on or something off of the Content Catalogue, is just so simple. I used the Black Pioneers Content for Black History Month, which was fantastic because I didn’t need to make the content myself. We use the Britannica World Facts and the WWF content that TrilbyTV has, I love having content that is readily available because then if it’s a last minute thing I can have it ready to go. The Content Catalogue is definitely one of my favourite features.”
How the placement of digital signage plays a big role
At the moment there’s currently three screens in the senior school and two in the junior school, with plans to expand their digital signage estate in the future. Isobel discussed the planned locations of their digital signage to share key messaging and what’s being displayed:
“Currently, we’ve just got a few in the dining hall and one outside of the Headteacher’s office which are for the notices that we want the pupils to see. Our current playlist has our lunch menus, a couple of notice ones for different school clubs. We haven’t got one in reception yet and we’ve not got the one set up in the staff room as of yet.”
Matt continued,
“We’re working on getting a bunch of screens down to the junior school and then getting all those set up with different playlists from TrilbyTV, I do a lot of the setups.”
Adding,
“Being able to have different content on different screens is really helpful. We can have an area like the screen in the reception that has a specific playlist and then something different in the lunch hall showing menus and other screens showing different content instead, which has been really, really helpful.”
Social media integration
Newcastle High School for Girls using TrilbyTV to showcase their social media feeds, using it to keep their screens updated and fresh, as Isobel told us,
“We’ve got our social media feeds on there. I like the fact that I don’t have to then go back into TrilbyTV to add something, it just will do it for me. A lot of my job is social media, so I know that if I do it on there, it’ll just transfer over onto the screen, saving me so much time!”
Being more sustainable
Isobel summed up her experiences with TrilbyTV so far:
“As we’re trying to cut back on printing, using paper and posters it’s really good for that transition into sustainability, TrilbyTV has really helped with that as well. Obviously as we get more screens in prime positions like the reception that will be perfect for really cutting down on our paper usage as it has all been paper posters, which is great, but not good for the planet. Our experience with TrilbyTV has been really good so far.”
It was great to catch up with Isobel and Matt, hearing about their current plans for digital signage around Newcastle High School for Girls and we’re excited to see how the use of TrilbyTV grows within the school! Why not try it out for yourself with a 30 day free trial and #SwitchOnYourSignage!