The Background
Alderman Peel High School, part of the The Wensum Trust, have been using Impero Education Pro since 2014. Following the school’s latest renewal, we spoke to Network Manager, Douglas Pembery, about how the software has helped ensure student productivity during remote learning.
The Requirements
With Covid-19 in mind, one key requirement for the school was to ensure day-to-day operations could continue during lockdown. The school network needed to be accessed remotely in order to support all school staff.
Another critical requirement was to ensure teachers could teach safely from a social distance whilst ensuring their students could learn effectively.
Our Approach
Since Alderman Peel High School were already using Education Pro, our approach was ensuring they could make the most out of it, especially with changing learning environments due to the pandemic.
“All of the year 10s studied in our big hall. The teachers could broadcast their PC onto the projector using Impero so the students could socially distance but also see the lesson clearly. We used the same set up in the labs for the key workers’ children.”
The Outcome
Impero Education Pro has provided a number of classroom control tools that allow teachers to turn off audio on PCs, block/allow websites, block games, broadcast and lock screens and restrict internet use. Teachers have used these features and others to manage behaviour and minimise distractions during lesson time.
“Lessons can be taught knowing that the students are focused on the activity, and online distractions removed. The 1-minute internet ban doesn’t impact learning but it’s enough time to shock them into getting back on task!”
With the keyword detection function, alerts are triggered and immediately sent with a detailed and simple overview of concerning captures to the student progress department, supporting early intervention.
“Impero picks up things that our students are typing, and any worrying websites that they are trying to access, so our student progress team can intervene where necessary.”
During term times, Alderman Peel High School utilised Education Pro to automatically power on machines at 9am and power off machines at 3:30pm saving over £1,100.
“We’ve had such a big power saving from just changing the power on times – it’s surprising how expensive it can be, and this doesn’t include holiday time savings!”