Leading Edge Academies Partnership

We spoke with Simon Elliot, Director of Digital Technology at Mounts Bay, about the deployment journey since he began working for the school in 2010. The school is a 1:1 iPad Secondary School (one iPad per student), Apple Distinguished School, and Apple Regional Training Centre.

Sync have worked with Leading Edge for over five years on their iPad rollout, and helped to maximise their use of technology in the classroom – as well as providing equipment and technical expertise along the way.

Development

“We were one of the first three schools in the country to go 1:1 with iPad, we have basically learned every way to not do a deployment”

It was after the iPad 2 was released that the Academy really began to double down on iPad and went out looking for how to deploy across the school.

“At that point we weren’t part of a Multi Academy Trust, and we made all of those business cases you go through, like ‘what are you going to get rid of by going digital’.”

The school recently updated all of their teaching staff devices to iPad Pro 12.9-inch with Magic Keyboard & Apple Pencil 2ndGen. Across the Trust, they have now adopted nearly 2,000 iPad, with more deployments planned over the coming years.

Mounts Bay is also an Apple Regional Training Centre. The Regional Training Centre programme builds on the experience and achievements of teachers already using Apple technology in the classroom.

Their training centre is fully equipped with the latest tech and presentation facilities. Teaching can also be given in more advanced software applications, including professional photo/video editing and sound recording to help give older students a head start in preparing for careers in the creative industries.

The Regional Training Centre is available for use by other schools and local businesses to help maximise the use of technology in the local community and is a fantastic resource for CPD.

Device Management

The school currently manages all their devices with Jamf School, and through their relationship with Sync’s support team, alongside some technical training, Leading Edge are now fully self managed by their internal Network team.

Simon explains “At the start, there was no MDM, there was no way to mandate filtering, it was basically a complete free for all, but immediately we saw the advantage of where it was going, you just knew there had to be those things in place to make it more efficient and to stop off task behaviour that children will automatically do if given an amazing tool like an iPad”

The school started off with using free software available but after some testing began using Jamf School they began using it in tandem with the iPad which allowed them to seamlessly integrate with Apple School Manager and their MIS, they now manage the devices at Mounts Bay centrally.

“It was doing what he wanted, we could lay the devices out how we wanted them laid out, interface was a lot simpler, and the way that it integrates with the other systems makes our lives so much easier”

Ease of use is imperative to make sure that teachers can focus on teaching, with iPad enhancing the learning experience for students.

Working with Sync

Sync works with institutions from across the UK to provide Apple solutions of all shapes and sizes, and currently manage over 51,500 Apple devices. Our team of technical experts provide ongoing support within a Trust’s Apple estate.

Our team can support the provision, financing, curriculum integration, training, technical configuration, repair, and ongoing technical support of your Apple estate.

To find out more about how Sync can work with your institution, read more about our Trust iPad Programme, or contact our team at education@wearesync.co.uk today.