Darrick Wood School

Darrick Wood School is a Secondary School located in Orpington, Bromley. Their approach to teaching and learning is encapsulated in the ‘Darrick Wood Way’. This incorporates values of respect, responsibility and honesty in day-to-day life.

The school’s motto ‘Revereor Vitam’ encourages everyone to have a reverence or respect for life!

I sat down with Data Manager, Jill Thorp, and Network and Operations Manager, Mike Slater, to discuss their experience with Bromcom’s MIS.

The day-to-day

Jill looks after the day-to-day running of the MIS for modules such as assessment and takes the lead when training new staff. Mike, the self-confessed ‘part of the furniture’ has been in his role for the last 22 years. He presides over all the technical issues, meaning if something goes wrong or a problem needs addressing, he is the man to call.

Both Mike and Jill have been using Bromcom for four years and seem very content with where the system is, as a whole. Jill commented that, while they are technically minded at Darrick Wood, they don’t need to make any changes to the system to ensure progress.

The standouts

Mike and Jill both noted that there are a number of elements within the Bromcom system that stand out.

A couple of major assets are the Google 365 integration coupled with the single sign-on ability. Not having to login to multiple systems with multiple passwords is certainly an advantage in a busy school environment (and with a current role of 1785 pupils there’s no doubt this is the case).

It was also made clear that Bromcom’s functionality far exceeded their previous provider, ESS SIMS. The team at Darrick Wood mentioned that they could easily extract any data they required, and it was ready to use. With SIMS, the process was labour intensive and:

Staying ahead of the game

The Bromcom service seems to be pretty good from Jill and Mike’s perspective.

Their feedback to make the process even better is that they are notified prior to any changes being made. That way, they can utilise them at the earliest opportunity and improve processes. This is definitely something we will take on board!

Continued Support

Mike certainly knows his way around the IT game and said that the helpdesk is always very quick to respond. Even when he has more ‘developer-orientated questions’, he gets a quick call back and they are able to support any changes that may be required.

This support has also extended to collaboration with Bromcom.

Darrick Wood is currently pioneering a brand-new feature within the MIS, specifically, seating plans which support SEND pupils. So far, the launch has been highly successful and their work here has been hugely appreciated by everyone at Bromcom.

Recommending Bromcom

The results are in, and they are exactly what we wanted to hear! Both Mike and Jill agreed that Bromcom is:

They considered ten other Management Information Systems when moving from SIMS and Bromcom was the standout choice due to:

• The migration processes
• The offering
• The integration
• The Bromcom package as a whole

Overall, Darrick Wood would be happy to recommend Bromcom and we’re delighted they are part of our community.