With new cases confirmed daily, it seems this contagious respiratory illness is impacting the whole education sector, but there needn’t be a hinderance to the efficiency of your school.
Current impact
As a business we are seeing the ripple effects of coronavirus, with a number of our international schools closing their doors as a temporary precaution and leading EdTech conferences we were due to attend now cancelled. Many fee-paying schools have implemented coronavirus policies to develop a course of principle action. As the level of concern rises for their colleagues, pupils, and the future of their business, it is undoubtedly an apprehensive time for some institutions.
Schools in Asia – especially China – are feeling the full effect of coronavirus. The World Health Organization’s Risk Assessment is set at ‘very high’ in this region, and the government in Hong Kong has announced a suspension of at least six weeks. Regardless of a school’s size, no institution can afford to lose this much crucial teaching time, particularly with exam season fast approaching.
How to prepare your school
Crisis management in these circumstances takes on a new perspective, as there’s not one universally recognised example for practising a lockdown of such scale.
With that said, moving to a cloud hosted software solution will enable school staff to continually communicate with their colleagues, pupils and parents. Unlike on-premise products that require additional and often complicated systems for entry, cloud hosted software allows access from anywhere with an internet connection.
Schools can mitigate a crisis and reduce the anxiety around discontinuity of learning by utilising cloud learning platforms that integrate with their Management Information System (MIS). Cloud software can benefit every area of your school, from admissions, finance and HR to, most importantly, teaching. Protecting these areas will ensure bills are paid, staff are given the support they need, you can continue to build your cohort for the years to come, and your pupils are not missing out on their crucial education.
WCBS is well prepared as a business, working on cloud systems. For some organisations this stops at just emails, but for us it extends to our phone systems and central server, with the majority of our staff having laptops, so should the situation take a turn for the worse our staff can work from home, and business continuity is assured.
Why cloud applications matter
We can each accept that in a lockdown scenario, social media, our bank accounts, and local news updates would still be accessible, so why should we accept any limitation to communication within the school community?
Cloud computing eliminates the need for a data centre located within the school, meaning data can be stored on a server anywhere in the world for users to access remotely through the internet.
Resilience to fires, floods, and other environmental disasters is imperative, and the unforeseen circumstances incurred from abandoning a school highlights how data can be exposed when backed up on-premise.
Implementing for the future
Cloud software providers like Frog Education give schools the ease of sharing relevant information, which empowers pupils to obtain the data they need from any device, anywhere, at any time and to easily communicate with parents. This reduces the risk of disruption, which is especially important for boarding schools or international schools that have pupils ‘locked-down’ away from their family.
Firefly is a valued Partner of WCBS who provides a modern learning experience platform. Its functionality within our software sets homework, tracks progress, shares resources and engages parents. Linking with other school systems enables us to make the most of their benefits and using cloud software means our schools can access them wherever and whenever they require.
If you would like to know more about the benefits of cloud hosted software, and how it can support your school, please contact us by emailing information@wcbs.co.uk, or calling +44 (0)1458 833 344.
