Stone Group enjoys enduring partnership with London school

Norlington School and 6th Form compromises a school for boys aged between 11 and 16 and a mixed, academically-focused 6th Form. It’s an organisation with exceptionally high standards and strives to create an environment where pupils feel academically challenged in a safe and supportive setting.

The school’s motto, ‘Wisdom is Strength’, is central to its commitment to developing the skills, knowledge and values that will allow pupils to choose the right path.

Yahya Ahkoon, the school’s Network Manager, has worked with Stone for over 11 years. “I remember that I was looking for a good deal on PCs at the time,” he said. “Stone could not be beaten on spec, price and service and it speaks volumes about Stone that they remain a valued partner after all these years.”

Stone is listed on several education frameworks, like NDNA, Crown Commercial Service and Crescent Purchasing Consortium, and works with leading technology partners to offer the best solutions with budgets and safeguarding at the forefront. Stone offers IT solutions for a range of primary, secondary and multi-academy trusts and has more than three decades of experience in education - so Stone is well-placed to help schools find the right tools for their requirements and budget.

The challenge: upgrading AV equipment

Like many schools, Norlington uses projectors in its teaching environments - but teachers weren’t impressed. “The teaching staff were frustrated because the projectors did not give true HD quality when items were projected onto a wall or whiteboard. Many of the projectors were approaching end of life, so material looked quite dim. And, from a technical point of view, my team constantly had to realign them and replace lamps. I decided to look for alternative solutions.”

Yahya’s first point of contact was his account manager at Stone. He explained that he wanted an answer that offered the best solution for teaching and learning colleagues - and a solution that minimised the workload for his technical team. He had a specific budget in mind, too.

Stone recommended ViewSonic audio-visual boards, which offered an affordable solution with numerous teaching and learning benefits. That said, Yahya still had to convince the school’s headteacher about the advantages of the investment. He said: “I purchased one board and set it up in his classroom – the head was won over right away and we purchased a further 29 boards.”

Thanks to Stone’s relationship with ViewSonic it was able to secure the boards at a great price and even managed to arrange a telephone call with Yahya and a senior figure from ViewSonic so that he could speak to them directly and address any concerns and questions.

The solution: viewing things clearly

The boards have been rolled out across the school and staff are very pleased with the new equipment. Yahya said: “teaching staff and pupils can now enjoy true HD quality and great interactivity without the time lag associated with previous equipment. Staff also enjoy the fact they don’t have to worry about casting a shadow across the screen which was frequently the case with projectors.

“From my perspective, managing this equipment is easy and we have not had to visit any of the classrooms since they have been installed. They are calibrated and so we don’t have to align them, and there is no maintenance required. This has freed up our time to work on other IT projects. We have had nothing but positive feedback.”

An additional benefit for Norlington is that Stone offers a 5-year warranty on the boards which means that the school can rely on Stone to repair or replace the equipment within 24 hours - and that same level of service applies to the hundreds of PCs that Yahya has purchased from Stone over the years.

Stone PCs combine security and performance

“We have probably purchased over 300 desktop computers from Stone,” said Yahya, “and we are perfectly happy with the Stone kit which cannot be beaten for reliability, security, stability and cost –the security element is such that the school’s insurance has actually reduced in price!

“The PCs are bolted down which means the pupils cannot move them – although of course the PC is easily adjusted to suit individual requirements. I think Stone is the only manufacturer that offers a design which can bolt down the PC with a special arm which means the PCs themselves cannot be taken from the desk but are still height adjustable and can tilt and swivel.”

Stone computers also offer the school a great spec which means that Norlington pupils can participate in design-led sessions with confidence.

Yahya said: “One of the great things about working with Stone is not just the fact they can be relied on to provide any IT equipment quickly and with minimum fuss - but the fact they have such a great customer service ethic. My personal account manager offers impeccable service, she always checks in to ensure I am happy with everything, and Stone’s service level agreement means should anything go wrong I know it will be resolved next day at the latest.”