The following are a number of case studies provided by schools and organisations
that use our software.
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For several years the school had used a paper based system which tracked the achievements
of individual children. It consisted of a comprehensive set of statements for reading
writing and maths from the earliest steps in the foundation stage to the end of
Key Stage 2.
The system was effective in tracking the progress of individual children but was
difficult to access. Most frustratingly, the school knew that it contained a wealth
of information which they could use to inform their practice if only it could be
analysed properly.
Gary Foskett, the headteacher, set Wauton Samuel the challenge of enhancing their
software so that it could be used to record and analyse this sophisticated tracking
system. The results have been spectacular and are generating a huge amount of interest
among neighbouring schools and Local Authorities.
According to Gary this is the Holy Grail for recording and reporting attainment
and progress.
Wauton Samuel have managed to produce something which perfectly meets our needs.
It helps us track progress in an accurate and objective way. We can look at the
effect of our teaching methods and come up with perfectly tailored targets for each
child's learning. It has been a fantastic experience working with this company.
They understood what we wanted straight away and have delivered a solution which
is helping us to focus on each child and to ensure that they get the best education
we can possibly provide."
We are also able to make intelligent projections for the levels which children
will achieve by the end of the Key Stage. It is difficult to estimate how much time
will be saved over the coming years. It was simply not possible for us to obtain
much of the information which is now available to us. We have combined our ethos
of child focussed learning which centred on the key skills we want to teach with
a fantastic piece of software. I think the result is amazing. I would recommend
this approach to any headteacher.
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New Cross Gate New Deal for Communities (NDC) is an area based regeneration partnership.
In 2001, New Cross Gate NDC was allocated £45m by the Government to work with local
people, community organisations and key service-delivery partners to regenerate
the New Cross Gate area over ten years.
One of the six themes of the NDC's work is education and they have contracted Wauton
Samuel to monitor the impact of their interventions in this area. We use Fischer
Family Trust (FFT) data to compare the actual achievements of the children and young
people supported by the NDC with those predicted by the FFT.
According to Ramona Metcalfe, the NDC Education Programme Manager: "Wauton Samuel
has helped us develop new recording systems for all our projects, that staff find
simple and easy to use. This will help us understand the impact of our work more
clearly and help us target pupils better in the future. we have been impressed by
their professionalism and they are always ready to help and advise."
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Forster Park primary school have been using PASAPP from Wauton Samuel since 1997
and the FINANCE module since 2001. Both systems are now invaluable tools within
the school. Geraldine Stupples, the school’s senior admin officer is full
of praise for the FINANCE package as she finds it so user friendly. She is especially
pleased with the way that it is easy to correct incorrect transactions and finds
that the reports are of very high quality and detailed. It is the complete package
for the school’s finances with staff salaries calculated as part of the system.
Geraldine regards the flexibility of the software, including the fact that Wauton
Samuel regularly make changes which schools request, as a big benefit to the school.
Forster Park also use the PASAPP system from Wauton Samuel to manage all the school’s
administration needs. Geraldine is especially pleased with the ease with which she
completes the PLASC return each January. With her previous system the old form 7
was an administrative nightmare. Geraldine has timed the entire process and states
that it takes between 30 and a maximum of 60 minutes to complete the task –
as she says “at the press of a button your PLASC is completed with PASAPP
whereas it took an eternity prior to PASAPP.”
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Wyborne Primary School in the London Borough of Greenwich has recently switched
to Wauton Samuel’s PASAPP package to handle all their school administration
needs.
Cath Hawkins, school administration officer at Wyborne said, “It was a leap
of faith but well worth it in our opinion. Both the product and the company meet
our demands for functionality, flexibility, value for money and speed of response.”
Several factors led Wyborne to choose PASAPP over its competitors. Wyborne was impressed
with Wauton Samuel’s growing reputation amongst its satisfied client base.
Cath cites the fact that the software’s flexibility was an important factor
in this decision – PASAPP can rapidly be tailored to cater for a school’s
needs.
Of paramount importance to Wyborne school was the level of customer service they
would receive from Wauton Samuel. Cath is full of praise for the approachable nature
of the Wauton Samuel staff who, she says “They are always there on the end
of the phone to talk us through a software query”. Moreover Cath says that
she and her colleagues have been very impressed with the standard of training they
have received and a smooth transition from their previous system thanks to Wauton
Samuel’s professional approach to new client implementations. “In fact
the system is so user friendly, we didn’t need all the allocated training
days”, said Cath.
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Since the introduction of PASAPP from Wauton Samuel in Elfrida Primary School, Lewisham,
assessment information has taken a big step forward.
Commenting on PASAPP’s benefits in this area, Barbara Fitzsimmons, headteacher
at Elfrida, said, “PASAPP has enabled us to find information on a pupil very
quickly, which in turn allows the school to be more responsive. Since the advent
of PASAPP we are able to target support to those pupils who need it more quickly.”
The PASAPP system, according to Barbara, is a very effective tool for the senior
managers in the school. It allows them to have an overview of the whole school,
which previously they didn’t have and they can therefore allocate resources
more effectively. The system also gives Barbara the flexibility to compare groups
of children across the school by certain criteria, for example ethnicity.
Barbara is full of praise for the analyses PASAPP provides her with, she can now
be much more focussed in the school’s assessment of numeracy and literacy.
She cites as a good example of the power of PASAPP, the comparisons she is able
to perform on KS2 SATS results to see why certain scores have been achieved and
what has affected children such as mobility and cohort changes.
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St Anthony’s Primary School in the London Borough of Southwark uses PASAPP
from Wauton Samuel to handle its school administration needs and their FINANCE package
to manage all the schools’ finances.
Stephen Owens, headteacher at St Anthony’s, is full of praise for the FINANCE
module, as it has enabled the school to save around £5,000 per annum. Previously
this money was spent on buying in external expertise to fulfil finance functions;
now that the school uses Wauton Samuel’s FINANCE package this expertise is
no longer required as the system caters for all their needs.
Stephen cites a major time saving benefit of PASAPP too for his school: ‘One
of the major benefits of using PASAPP for us was demonstrated with the completion
of the annual PLASC return. With our previous system the task was labour intensive
and frankly awful. As a complete novice with the PASAPP system it took me minutes
and therefore saved the school hours of valuable time’.
Several factors led Stephen to choose PASAPP over its competitors, but one of the
major strengths of Wauton Samuel is the fact, as he says, that they listen to their
clients. This is, he says, demonstrated by the fact that the Service Level Agreement,
which exists between each school and Wauton Samuel, is not fixed but negotiable.
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Victory Primary School in the London Borough of Southwark are really pleased that
they switched their hardware and software support to Wauton Samuel. Wauton Samuel
looks after the entire school network of PC’s, servers and printers, servicing
both hardware and software. Pauline Snow, the school’s admin officer said,
“The service is fantastic, we are amazed at how quickly things are dealt with
and that we are able to talk to our technician. They visit us regularly and deal
with any issues we have swiftly, we no longer feel left high and dry.” She
is especially pleased with being able to fax the technician a list of jobs which
are then dealt with promptly and competently.
For schools, IT is an essential tool both in the classroom and office, but all too
often staff’s ability to use it is hampered by poor supplier service and so
valuable time is taken up with the chasing of support staff.
Pauline cites the main factor that led Victory to choose Wauton Samuel to provide
hardware support over its competitors as their excellent reputation for client service.
She says that Wauton Samuel have excelled in all aspects of their service and believes
that Wauton Samuel represent “real value for money for the school”.
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