BRIT School

The BRIT School is the leading Performing and Creative Arts school in the UK. Jennifer Surujpaul, the Head of IT & Digital for The BRIT School leading SchooliP for their site.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE SCHOOLIP?
I was very familiar with SchooliP in Egypt where we set up the management aspect to enable strategic school improvement under one system, especially since it’s a through school. It’s about joining those dots and making sure there is consistency. We had one platform instead of multiple systems.

When I came to The BRIT School, it was an easy decision to choose SchooliP as they were using a Google form to record performance management and using a separate system for classroom observations and monitoring. It’s fine for the end user, but managing and generating reports can be very difficult and time-consuming. It proves a big challenge to have an overview of the performance management objectives and link them to our school improvement plan, SEF and department improvement plans.

We had to have something in place and SchooliP was the best option for us as I was familiar with it. I was very happy with the customer service and the onboarding process.

WHAT PROCESS MADE YOU CHOOSE SCHOOLIP?
I undertook a SWOT analysis with our SLT members to look at how performance management was managed by looking at teaching and learning and looking at the different systems available.

What can SchooliP do for us against what we currently have in place? From the SWOT analysis, we were able to decide on SchooliP.

At The BRIT School, is going to tick those boxes in terms of our strategic direction and having everything under one roof.

HOW PRACTICAL AND EFFECTIVE DID YOU FIND THE GUIDANCE AND SUPPORT PROVIDED BY SCHOOLIP DURING YOUR IMPLEMENTATION?
I think the support and guidance supplied were 110% spot on, to be honest. I’m very, very happy with that. I think it’d be great if other companies modelled the support and guidance on how you actually do that.

You’ve got your user groups there. I think that’s brilliant. To actually share ideas.

WHAT HAS BEEN THE OVERALL REACTION OF SCHOOL LEADERS AND STAFF TO USING SCHOOLIP? HAVE YOU RECEIVED FEEDBACK ON ITS QUALITY, SUCH AS TIME-SAVING OR REPORTING CAPABILITIES?
As colleagues, what they’ve come back with is, they like the fact that everything’s in one system. They don’t need to try and look for that Google form within their e-mails, or if they’ve downloaded it as well, they can go to the system at any time and see it there. They also like the fact that they’re able to place all the evidence in one place that’s optional.

They can look at the performance management cycle and say, OK, where are my documents? Where’s my evidence as well? I need to go and look for this. Everything is in one place. So it feels like a journey for them. And again, it’s going back to showcasing their achievements in one place as opposed to having them in different systems – so they like that.

They also like the fact they’re able to share their evidence not just with their line manager, but with other staff members, and they can actually use this evidence.

WHAT DIFFERENCE IS IT MAKING? WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF YOU INTRODUCING SCHOOLIP INTO YOUR ORGANISATION?
Having everything under one roof in terms of performance management and also teaching and learning. Bringing those two elements together at this point, in terms of the difference that it’s making, staff members can log in and see everything under one roof.

Instead of looking at the various different systems, it’s a seamless journey that they’ve got. Instead of those multiple systems that I spoke about already.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS CONSIDERING SUBSCRIBING TO SCHOOLIP?
It’s a transformational journey for your school. And I would go for it!