WriteImage CSB Innovative School Delivers IT Training to Staff

							                                                Microsoft Customer Solution
                                                Customer Solution Case Study




                                                Innovative School Delivers IT Training to Staff,
                                                Students, and Local Businesses



Customer: Sawtry Community College
Web Site: www.sawtrycc.com
                                                “By integrating the Microsoft IT Academy Program into
Country or Region: United Kingdom               the curriculum, we can ensure the workforce of
Industry: Education
Number of Students: 1,400
                                                tomorrow is adequately prepared.”
Number of Staff: 167                            Alan Stevens, Associate Principal, Sawtry Community College

Customer Profile
Sawtry Community College is a large
                                                Computer systems underpin daily life at school, in the workplace,
secondary school in rural Cambridgeshire,       and across the wider community. Sawtry Community College
United Kingdom, serving 1,400 students. It
is involved with several DfES initiatives and
                                                wanted to ensure its staff could effectively use its online learning
has a reputation for enterprise and             portal and equip its students and the local community with relevant
innovation.
                                                training to bridge the IT skills gap. It was one of the first schools to
Software and Services                           embed the Microsoft® IT Academy Program in its curriculum and
  − Microsoft IT Academy Program
                                                offer training to staff, students, and small, local businesses.



                                                Education Needs
                                                Sawtry Community College is a foundation               Staff development—Sawtry is accredited
                                                school in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom. The           by the DfES as a Training School. It works
                                                most recent OfSTED inspection rated the school          in partnership with other schools and
                                                as “good” and praised its “emphasis on aiming           education bodies to improve professional
                                                for high standards and continuous                       development standards through teacher
                                                improvement.”                                           training and classroom-based research.


For more information about other Microsoft      The school excels in three areas:                      Using IT effectively—Sawtry was one of the
customer successes, please visit:                                                                       first schools to use portable computers to
www.microsoft.com/resources/casestudies            Sharing best practices—it supports schools          support teaching and learning as part of
                                                    in four counties as a member of the                 the “Anytime, Anywhere Learning” project
For more information on Microsoft
Education, please visit:                            Department for Education and Skills                 in 1998. More recently, the college
www.microsoft.com/uk/education                      (DfES) “Leading Edge Partnership”                   implemented the Microsoft Learning
                                                    initiative.                                         Gateway, a Web-based portal offering
   communication and collaboration tools.                               Microsoft training provider Certiport supplied       qualifications in their subject area. Alan
   This raised fresh staff development needs.                           teacher training, learning materials, and online     Stevens says: “All qualified teachers must have
                                                                        assessment tools, which were delivered               a degree and teaching certificate, but,
Alan Stevens, Associate Principal, Sawtry                               through the school‟s Microsoft Learning              previously, there was no specialist IT
Community College, says: “It is essential that we                       Gateway portal. Teachers trained to achieve          qualification they could easily obtain on the job.
improve staff IT skills. We wanted to take charge                       their Microsoft Office Specialist certification in   The Microsoft IT Academy Program gives us the
of maintaining our online curriculum and offer                          mid 2004, and the first group of students            ability the award IT teachers with a relevant,
more information across the school using the                            began in September 2004.                             industry-recognised training qualification.”
portal. This reflects the Training Development
Agency‟s change in emphasis from merely                                 Students had three one-hour, timetabled              Ensuring School-Wide Participation
training teachers to school-wide staff                                  sessions spread over three terms to complete         All staff use the Sawtry Microsoft Learning
development reforms.”                                                   Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft Office              Gateway to play an active part in the school
                                                                        PowerPoint®, and Microsoft Office Excel®             community. Alan Stevens says: “Our people
What‟s more, the school wanted to extend its IT                         training. Staff received 10 one-hour sessions in     now work in an online organisation. We‟re
training plans to students. Alan Stevens says:                          groups of six, supplemented by one-to-one            putting them in a situation where they need IT
“The Regional Development Agency, our partners                          support operated on a drop-in or appointment         skills to work effectively. The Microsoft IT
in the business community, and the Learning                             basis. People used self-study resources to build     Academy Program is an essential part of our
and Skills Council encourage us to ensure all                           on their existing knowledge of software              professional development programme.”
students have basic IT skills so they are                               packages and supplement group session
prepared when they enter the workplace. We                              activities. If employees were already competent      Preparing Students for the Workplace
were also keen to offer similar training to local                       in Microsoft Office applications, they could take    Sawtry can offer its students real-world
businesses to help stimulate innovation and                             the online examination without training.             experience and additional qualifications as part
increase competitiveness.”                                                                                                   of daily lessons. Alan Stevens says: “By
                                                                        Following this successful pilot programme,           integrating the Microsoft IT Academy Program
Solution                                                                Sawtry began offering courses to the wider           into the curriculum, we can ensure the
Alan Stevens wanted to adopt an IT training                             community through the Microsoft IT Academy           workforce of tomorrow is adequately prepared.”
package that met staff and student needs, gave                          Program. It advertised through the local
people industry-recognised accreditation, and                           Chamber of Commerce and approached                   Bridging the IT Skills Gap
could be offered to the wider community. He                             businesses with links to the school.                 The school also uses the programme to help
says: “We considered the European Computer                                                                                   small businesses ensure its employees are
Driving Licence (ECDL) for staff, but it felt like a                    Benefits                                             adequately trained, helping to improve local
„stop-gap‟ measure and didn‟t meet our long-                            The school has used the Microsoft IT Academy         competitiveness. Alan Stevens says: “We can
term needs. Similarly, the RSA CLAIT course was                         Program to help individuals gain workplace           offer our services to the wider community to
being completed by staff at evening classes and                         skills and local businesses become more              help address the current local skills gap and
was not part of the official professional                               competitive. To date, more than 500 people           boost the regional economy.”
development programme.”                                                 have gained qualifications through the
                                                                        Microsoft Office Specialist pathway of the IT
The school decided to use its partnership with                          Academy Program. This includes all 150 school
Microsoft through the Microsoft IT Academy                              staff, more than 300 students, and 50 people
Program, which is available to schools worldwide                        from the wider community, including several
to bring IT training to the classroom. With                             small, local businesses.
Microsoft and its partners, it developed a two-
year pilot programme to offer students Microsoft                        Giving IT Teachers Specialist Accreditation
Office Specialist certification as part of the Key                      For the first time, specialist IT teachers have
Stage 4 curriculum.                                                     the opportunity to gain professional




This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published May 2007