Hawthorns School

The Hawthorns School was founded by the Bull family in 1926 and is now situated in a beautiful Jacobean manor and 35 acre estate in Bletchingley. Steeped in tradition and values it strives to maintain it's individuality and heritage whilst embracing the ever moving pace of technology. As part of the school's development plans it was decided that whiteboards should be put into all the classrooms and Hocken were asked to come up with a solution.

A solution was needed that combined durability with a good range of features and a high quality educational software package. The PolyVision board that Hocken suggested, provided all the features that the school required including the RM Easyteach package used widely in schools across the country. The added bonus of the Walk & Talk system of remote control and the recent addition of a self-orientating feature on the 'Lightning' version of the board has made it particularly impressive.

Graham Salmon, who is responsible for all the IT in the school says "It is a rugged, well built board that looks good on the wall and is quite simple to use. The fact that the board is touch sensitive and can be controlled using finger-tips has made it a particular winner with the younger children who enjoy working with their favourite programs using the big screen. All the pupils enjoy the new dimension that using interactive whiteboards has brought to the lessons from simple PowerPoint presentations to specially designed whiteboard activities."

It is still early days so the full potential of this investment is still to be realised, however, it is going to be an exciting time for both staff and pupils as we explore the new experiences in teaching and learning that lie ahead he added.