SUSSEX LEARNING TRUST CHOOSE OPTOMA

Sussex Learning Trust is responsible for the successful management and development of three schools: Warden Park Secondary Academy in Cuckfield, and Warden Park Primary Academy and Northlands Wood Primary Academy in Haywards Heath.

The trust is working relentlessly to set a benchmark within the area for teaching excellence and the use of technology.

Dave Lang, Digital Services Technical Manager at Warden Park Secondary explains, "The visual display technology we had in place before Krome's engagement needed a refresh.

"The requirements were simple in the terms that we require the displays to be reliable, simple to use, easy to connect to, and commercially viable. They also need to improve the learning experience for students."

Krome Technologies recommended Optoma as the most appropriate solution for all the functionality the schools required.

A product demonstration and loan were arranged to ensure the screens and visualisers would support the school's needs.

Martin Kent, Business Manager for Krome Technologies says, "Following the demonstration and loan, it was clear to see that the screens have all the functionalities the teachers and students require.

"From a commercial standpoint, it was a significantly excellent benefit for completing an entire refresh; so much so that from the initial 10 displays we put forward, the trust decided to do an entire refresh using Optoma."

Across the different departments and schools, the interactive displays and visualisers are being adopted and utilised in new and exciting ways.

Ben Tinkler, Director of Science uses the displays in conjunction with the DC350 visualiser, he explains, “We use the visualisers in science to make small scale experience really visible to students, it is so much better than trying to get a class squashed around the front desk for a demonstration and everyone is able to clearly see what I am talking about during an experiment.

“The visualiser is also a great tool to share examples of students’ work or model answers to exam questions.

“The equipment is really quick and easy to set up so there is no preparation time if you decided to use it in your lesson.”

Dave’s son is a student at the secondary school; he says, "I've been talking to my son a lot. It's a significant investment so I wanted to know how the students feel.

"He’s very happy, he says the classroom is more interactive because they can go to the board and interact with the split-screen function.

"He also said how much better the speakers are on the new screens.

"I can see that the students use the QR code frequently to mirror the lesson on the Optoma display directly to their iPads.

"However, we have blocked students from casting to screens to avoid issues. This was simple to do and as you can imagine, very needed in a school where the students are tech-savvy."

The teachers have also embraced the new technology, Dave added, "The teachers are using the boards more than ever. It's very easy to interact with the screens using the pens. And the screens have been very reliable.

"The poll function comes into great use to gather instant answers. And the stopwatch is another nifty feature.

"In the past we used Apple TVs. Teachers now use the AirShare app on the displays to cast their lesson plans to the screens - it's more reliable, easier to do, and, most importantly, saves a great deal of time as all it takes is a click of a button!

"The technology is being embraced. It's been a challenging year for everyone; with the addition of hybrid learning - there has been lots to learn.

"There is now an understanding of how technology can improve the classroom and everyone is enjoying the technology."