Stonyhurst College partners with Dynabook to bolster digital learning experience using its Build to Order service

Stonyhurst College is a co-educational Roman Catholic independent school in Lancashire, England. It is the largest Catholic boarding school in the UK, with 800 pupils ranging between the ages of 3 and 18 from over 40 countries.

Stonyhurst was looking for a new partner to equip students and teachers with laptops to bolster the everyday learning experience and empower students to work anywhere. Working with reseller AMC, the college was keen to trial high-spec touchscreen devices capable of managing heavy processing apps for in-class learning such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, and Sibelius. It also needed laptops with long lasting battery power, capable of powering these applications all day long. This was alongside withstanding every-day bumps and drops and being lightweight to carry for extended periods of time. Additionally, teachers found themselves spending large amounts of time marking work and hoped implementing school-wide laptop use would streamline this process and increase overall efficiency. On top of this criteria, the devices needed to be built and ready within just two months in time for the start of term in September.

Sourcing a large-scale order during a period where there were many constraints on components due to ongoing supply chain issues across the industry presented an extra challenge for Stonyhurst. Multiple providers were struggling to secure the required parts for the 750 units required by the desired deadline. Dynabook proved to be the perfect partner for Stonyhurst to appoint as its sole provider of devices through AMC, delivering the large order in time for the new school year thanks to Dynabook’s unique position of having its own factory. It was able to directly fulfil the demand for Stonyhurst on a ‘Build to Order’ (BTO) basis in just six weeks, critical to the success of the initial trial phase.

Together with AMC and Dynabook’s BTO service, Stonyhurst ordered 750 Portégé X30W-J units which were customised to meet each of its desired specifications. This differed for both students and staff, right down to the disc size, memory, and processor. On arrival, AMC oversaw the setup of the units ensuring all the devices were ready for use with the correct applications and security software straight out of the box.

One of the biggest priorities for the college was long lasting devices to support students constantly on the move with no charger in sight. The Portégé X30W-J has proved unbeatable in this area, with the battery life identified by students as a key benefit of the devices. Students can comfortably run heavy-duty applications all day without worrying about where the next charge point is. When they do need to charge-up, the ultra-fast charging capability means it’s back and ready for another day within one hour of plugging it in.

Dynabook’s hands-on approach alongside AMC throughout the entire process, including visits to the college, ensured that Stonyhurst was kept up to date with the progress of the devices and its requirements were perfectly met and implemented into everyday school life seamlessly. From specification, it took just six weeks for all units to be successfully delivered, each of which was set-up and ready for students to simply switch on and use. Every student that required a laptop had a device ready to go, right in time for the beginning of term. AMC also supplied suitable laptop lockers within the college, providing additional peace-of-mind around the security of the devices.

Following the success of the Portégé X30W-J, Stonyhurst has placed a further order for 300 additional Portégé and Tecra laptops to ensure the rest of its staff are using the very best devices and are empowered in their everyday work. Now every pupil and employee at Stonyhurst is using a Dynabook laptop across the college.

Gareth Entwistle, Director of IT Operations at Stonyhurst, said

“Technology has revolutionised the education sector, making it increasingly clear that we needed to empower students with their own devices. However, ensuring these delivered on our specific requirements in the time needed was critical. Dynabook was great from the off, able to balance all our specifications while also providing quick and considered customer service. A year since its implementation, the 1:1 device scheme has delivered impressive improvements to the in-class learning experience for both students and teachers. For example, teachers are now able to provide verbal feedback to every pupil via voice notes on the devices – a personalised and streamlined experience that would never have been possible before. With the strength and reliability of the technology we’ve seen first-hand, we can trust it to deliver for whatever our students and staff require.”

Dawn Henderson, Education Sales Lead at Dynabook Europe, said,

“It’s been incredibly rewarding to see the success of Dynabook’s partnership with Stonyhurst College. Our BTO service gave us the flexibility and timelines we needed to provide Stonyhurst with the exact devices they needed and ensure both students and teacher had the right features to support and thrive day-to-day. We are delighted that Stonyhurst is extending its partnership with Dynabook and are looking forward to helping the college continue to benefit from technology in education in the future.”

Nick Bonnett, Technical Director at AMC, said,

“The execution of this project with Dynabook and Stonyhurst College has exemplified the outstanding outcomes we can deliver when faced with close deadlines and supply chain issues. It’s been great to bring together our partnerships with both organisations to help Stonyhurst deliver a successful school-wide implementation of Dynabook’s market-leading devices.”