Eastfield Primary School
Establishment Type: Primary school
Students: Over 400
Located: Wolverhampton
Aim: Work more efficiently and share data better.
Solution: SIMS Next Gen
Impact: Impact: By adopting SIMS Next Gen, the school has overcome its administrative challenges, achieving significant time savings and improved data accessibility.
Background
Eastfield Primary School, located near Wolverhampton City Centre, is a vibrant, inclusive school for children aged 4-11. Known for its commitment to student well-being and academic excellence, the school fosters a supportive and engaging learning environment. Its core values of pride, care, respect, resilience, diversity, and opportunity are reflected in its dynamic curriculum and dedicated staff. Eastfield has been praised by Ofsted for its strong community ties, effective teaching, and nurturing atmosphere, making it a great place for children to thrive.
Established nearly 100 years ago, the school holds a rich history and deep community ties. Debbie Stewart, a long-time member of the school’s administrative team, not only attended the school as a child but also sent her children there. Over her 20-plus years at Eastfield, Debbie has seen the school evolve and has been instrumental in navigating the challenges of modernising its administrative processes.
“Before moving to SIMS Next Gen, our administrative processes were bogged down by several hurdles. Managing fire registers was cumbersome and error-prone, especially during drills. Our aging server frequently disrupted access to critical data, and manually entering new student data each year was really time consuming. These inefficiencies made it clear we needed a modernised solution.” Debbie explains.
Eastfield Primary School chose to onboard SIMS Next Gen to simplify their administrative tasks and make sharing data easier.
“Moving to a cloud-based system eliminated our reliance on an aging server, ensuring constant availability and improved data security. Additionally, automating fire registers and other administrative tasks promised significant time savings and increased efficiency.”
Debbie Stewart, Office Manager, Eastfield Primary School
Moving to SIMS Next Gen
The transition to SIMS Next Gen was smooth and supported by comprehensive training from the SIMS team. Despite initial learning curves, the training empowered Debbie and the rest of the team to explore the new system’s features and adapt quickly.
“The training and support we received were excellent.” Debbie says.
The support team provided ongoing assistance, ensuring any issues were promptly addressed.
Save valuable time and make better-informed decisions
With SIMS Next Gen, Eastfield Primary School saw significant improvements in administrative efficiency and data accessibility.
Previously managing fire registers was a manual process. Registers had to be printed daily, and in the event of a fire drill, distributing and collecting paper registers from teachers was time-consuming and prone to errors.
Fire registers are now available digitally in SIMS Next Gen. Teachers mark attendance on their iPads, and data is instantly accessible, significantly reducing the time and effort required during drills, and removing the room for error.
With data stored in the cloud, information is readily accessible from any device, improving workflow and reducing dependence on the unreliable server.
“With SIMS Next Gen, we can access critical data quickly and easily, which has improved our ability to make informed decisions. It is so much easier to manage our student data.”
Debbie Stewart, Office Manager, Eastfield Primary School
Debbie is eager to take advantage of more Next Gen functionality as it’s released, particularly those related to attendance, which offer customisation options to support the school’s reporting needs.
Conclusion
The adoption of SIMS Next Gen at Eastfield Primary School has marked a significant step towards modernising its administrative processes. It has not only addressed critical challenges but also opened up opportunities for future progress.
With continuous support and potential system enhancements, Eastfield Primary can take advantage of SIMS Next Gen to improve school management and educational outcomes.
“Since implementing SIMS Next Gen, we’ve saved a significant amount of time on administrative tasks, which has allowed us to focus on more important things, like teaching and learning.”
Debbie Stewart, Office Manager, Eastfield Primary School