May 5, 2022 by Jesus Vigo

Google + Apple at Holy Trinity CofE Primary School

Catherine Thomas of Holy Trinity CofE Primary School shares the story of the success of their learners is made possible by its iPad 1:1 program, in partnership with Google. Also, how Jamf Pro made it possible for the students and teachers to leverage technology as a tool for learning across all curriculums.

As Catherine puts it best, the school’s belief in “Every learner; Empowered. Inspired. Prepared.”, is not just the motto at Holy Trinity CofE Primary School, but it informs the learning process end to end, infusing the belief into not just every aspect, but serving as a guiding principle for all stakeholders.

The student population consists several exceptionalities, including approx. half their population of students that speak English as a second language, or the needs of the varying needs of the stakeholders, affected by low income communities, among other needs.

Despite the obstacles, learning is achieved through the incredible resources provided in the partnership between Apple, Google and Jamf. The successful 1:1 iPad program sees each student, teacher and assistant leveraging the power of Apple’s tablet as a tool for learning across all curriculums to not only inspire learning, but empower all learners so that they may be prepared for tomorrow.

1:1 iPad for all students

Productivity, creativity, and workflows are not curriculum specific, leading themselves to all programs during and after school.

Apps, such as GarageBand and iMovie not only fuels the creative outlet of students but facilitates the transfer of skills from iPad to Mac, enhancing and extending the learning from one technology to another.

The collaborative nature of the features within Apple devices provide all users a plethora of accessibility functions built-in to the platform and easily enabled within all applications. “The ease with which children can have text read to them are second to none”, according to Catherine, speaking to the power of Apple’s accessibility-enabled devices. Furthermore, text can be translated, easily enabling comprehension, while the Microphone allows voice recording, which supports the development of oracy across the school.

Professional learning

All staff attend trainings, empowering them to lead learning sessions. Speaking of learning sessions, melding the desire to learn with a meal, trainees have come to embrace the hands-on sessions as a means to inspire, while stimulating growth by further evolving the dynamic approach to teaching and learning.

In addition to serving a learning tool for teachers, the staff at Holy Trinity CofE Primary School realized that moving so quickly to put everything online in response to the global pandemic required shifting the staff portal and collaboration features to the cloud as well. And they did just that with Google Sites, providing a “one-stop shop” that makes for fast, efficient communication and collaboration between the staff — and easily accessible right from their iPad — just as they would any other app.

Take learning everywhere

Partnering with Jamf for its device management needs, Holy Trinity CofE Primary School soon found that its approach to blended learning was further enhanced with the Jamf Pro. The managed iPads connected through the cloud-based management solution allowed for anyone to learn anywhere at anytime. Any resources that were needed we easily accessible through the Self Service app, downloaded directly to the iPad instantly.

Further facilitating the ”learn from anywhere” mission was Google Classroom, the classroom management solution that was already in use throughout the school was the perfect fit, not only allowing for connection, communication and collaboration but allowed the children and staff to come together at anytime to attend pre-configured classrooms based on existing curriculum or customized classes, such Mental Health or Collective Worship, extending on the school’s commitment to its stakeholders.