Rainhill High School is a secondary school and sixth form in St Helens, Merseyside. As well as offering a full 11-18 curriculum, the school is home to the official Liverpool F.C. Academy Education Centre for players under the age of 18. We recently visited the school to catch up with Marc Khanna, Network Manager, to find out how they’re getting on with TrilbyTV.
Simple screen management
Rainhill High School has been using TrilbyTV for their digital signage for around five years. Before making the switch, the school was managing their digital signage with powerpoint presentations loaded onto USBs which were individually plugged into the screens around the school. Having their signage set up like this meant that they only had a couple of screens, as it took a long time to update them with new content. Marc explained that, “It became problematic because we had to go to every TV and update it manually.”
After about three years managing their digital signage with USBs, Marc found out about TrilbyTV at an Insight event in Manchester. While they did look at other signage products on the market, they felt TrilbyTV was the most appropriate platform for them as it was the most user friendly. Marc told us that, “At the time, TrilbyTV was the only solution that we could see working for our school and the easiest to use as well.”
Another deciding factor was that TrilbyTV offers an app whereas other solutions were only web based. The app worked perfectly alongside their preferred setup of using Firesticks with their screens, allowing them to manage signage from anywhere. In a large school site with multiple screens, Marc feels this is a huge benefit saying, “We can manage them remotely. It’s good to have a device where you don’t need to visit the TV at all.”
Growing digital signage across the school
Now, Rainhill has an unlimited screens licence so they can keep adding more without paying a higher subscription fee, motivating them to grow their digital signage estate. At the moment, they have seven screens throughout the school which showcase important information about house points, attendance statistics, faculty of the month awards, student wellbeing, and much more.
On our visit, we met with the school’s Marketing Team to find out how they create engaging material to showcase on their digital signage. The team of three manage all of the content for the screens, streamlining their workflow by using and adapting material they’ve already created for events and school information.
The team likes how easily the software has integrated into their workflow, without needing much ongoing help and support. Marc said,
“I’ve only had to contact TrilbyTV a handful of times over the last few years, which shows how good the software is. With other software you can be constantly on the phone asking questions.”
In the future, they’d like to add more screens throughout the school, including possible specialist outdoor signage so that students can see key information when they’re arriving at school or during break times.
Evolving the school’s brand
Marc told us that the school’s communications has evolved a lot over the past five years, with the team developing the overall brand and social media. TrilbyTV has been an important tool in helping them push these changes and promoting them to as many people as possible.
As well as helping existing students and staff to feel part of the Rainhill community, signage is a key part of promoting the school at open days. Marc said, “We’re always looking for new, innovative ways to increase the number of students and staff coming to school.”
TrilbyTV also helps them to tie their online presence into their signage. Marc told us, “I like the way it integrates with social media platforms. If the Marketing Team is putting things on social media, they don’t need to do anything to TrilbyTV because it does it automatically.”
In the near future, the school would also like to include more movement and animations in their content to catch the audience’s eye and make sure the screens don’t become static and ignored over time.
It was great to catch up with the team at Rainhill and see their signage in action. Marc summed everything up by saying digital signage should, “be current, represent the brand, be enjoyable.” We think they’ve certainly achieved that!
If you’d like to find out more about how TrilbyTV can help to support your school’s communications, we’d love to hear from you. You can book a free demo with one of our team who can show you the platform and talk to you about your individual needs. Plus, if you’d like to try it for yourself, we offer a free 30 day trial with full functionality and support.