The equipment was supplied to Purford Green Primary School in Harlow, Essex, identified by Gratnells as a school with a reputation for excellence and local to the company’s manufacturing and marketing HQ.

The school moved into an extensively remodelled building in April 2012 and is proud of its excellent facilities and light, spacious, well-equipped classrooms. With its emphasis on standards, skills, challenge and opportunity it was considered a perfect testing ground for the Gratnells PowerTrolley and PowerTrays.

The challenge

The school has 30 iPads, shared between different 

classes and year groups. The tablets are extremely popular with the learners and this often requires moving up to 20 devices at a time between different locations in the school.

Re-charging sometimes takes place in the classroom and each evening all tablets, including a number of storage cases and holders, are removed to the security of a lockable storage room.

The test

Use of theGratnells PowerTrolley and PowerTrays was allocated across a number of teachers over the six-week period in order to maximise usage, assessment and feedback.

Score sheets and feedback forms supplied by Gratnells were used to rate the products across six features:

• Functionality
• Mobility
• Safety
• Security
• Storage
• Ease of Use.

On a scale of 1 (high) to 5 (low) the kit was rated as very good across no fewer than five categories, with Mobility scoring an outstanding maximum mark.

The Gratnells PowerTrolley/PowerTray combination will be a real asset to any school, with its manoeuvrability, ease of use, flexibility and safety

Feedback

Users were impressed with the trolley’s ease of movement – particularly for children who enjoyed moving it around and putting it away.

This, combined with the unit’s stability, safety and even weight distribution, made it a reassuring choice for classroom use. The flexibility of the charging process was also popular – it was found that children could easily access and charge tablets either singly or in groups within trays. Perhaps most important for teaching staff was the ability to use and charge devices where and when they required them, often dividing the trays between classes and charging while learners were accessing and using tablets. As a bonus the trays could be stored within the existing classroom furniture.

The small footprint of the trolley was identified as a further benefit, making it unobtrusive and easy to store away securely. 

Conclusion

Quote from Ms Keen, Project Leader and Deputy Head at Purford Green Primary School: “The Gratnells PowerTrolley/PowerTray combination will be a real asset to any school, with its manoeuvrability, ease of use, flexibility and safety.”

In summary: “We loved it and we don’t want to give it back!” 

For more information visit: powertray.gratnells.com