Lizzie Pyliotis
Wherwell School
When I first spoke to Dave at Calibrae back in August, I was very impressed with his sound knowledge of the platform and his reasoning as to why Calibrae would be better for our school than other online learning platforms. He took the time to explain to me exactly how it works and what the benefits would be for the children in our school. After looking at many platforms, we decided to go with Calibrae as they seemed to offer the most comprehensive user experience that most closely reflected what we wanted for the children in our school. We wanted something that allowed us to mirror as closely as possible what we would be doing in class while also allowing our pupils to stay safe online, particularly when viewing YouTube videos or other external websites. Calibrae allows us to do this.
Whilst set-up was not without its issues, the team at Calibrae were extremely quick and efficient in their support to get any problems solved. When I was struggling to get all the children across the school logged in and set up with their accounts, I needed a quick way to see who was verified or not. Calibrae did not have this feature, but the team understood my problem and were able to make a change to the website so that you can now see which children have verified their accounts at a quick glance.
Calibrae worked really well for us whilst still in school. We were able to upload work for the day for any children who were self-isolating to mirror what was happening in class. We also spent some time in class teaching the children how to use Calibrae. The children loved the opportunity to work independently through their learning in the classroom and supported each other where needed. Many parents have reported to me that this was invaluable in the move to full home learning, as the children are now able to use the platform better than they are! Shortly after the set-up of Calibrae, we had an information-gathering OFSTED visit, where OFSTED questioned us on how we had prepared ourselves for online learning as per the government guidance. The OFSTED inspectors had never heard of Calibrae but were very impressed with the platform and what it was able to do. They really liked how we could tailor learning to suit our classes and respond to their learning in a meaningful way. We also found out after the fact that the man leading the inspection was the interim head of OFSTED in the South.
Making the move to full online learning has not been easy or without its challenges but the team at Calibrae have been superb the whole way! I have had more positive comments from parents than I could have imagined about how easy the platform is to use, how much the children enjoy the activities and feedback we are able to provide and how it is flexible to use whenever it suits their family timetable. The staff now have a really good understanding of how to use it too and are constantly creating new ways to enhance and enrich children’s learning through the platform.
I would whole-heartedly recommend Calibrae to anyone seeking a better way to provide online learning to their pupils.
