Broadening horizons at Oasis Community Learning
Date published: 23 May 2022
Oasis Horizons is a ground-breaking project that is the first of its kind in England on this scale
Oasis Community Learning have set the ambitious objective of providing every student and teacher across its 52 academies with a device of their own, enhancing learning and unlocking new opportunities in the classroom.
Oasis Horizons is a ground-breaking project that is the first of its kind in England on this scale, and resulted in a transformative deployment of iPad.
More than 34,000 devices have now been deployed to Oasis academies across England - including those in Oldham - with the aim of providing equity and access for all students - and with the support of Apple Authorised Education Specialist, Sync, they are already showing promising results.
John Murphy, CEO of Oasis Community Learning, said: “The project was created to unite education and services together in a way that levels the playing field and empowers students to broaden their horizons.”
The impact of Oasis Horizons has been unmistakable, even this early on in the nine-year project.
Murphy added: "Our standards for the end of Key Stage Two are higher now than they were in 2019.
"Children could work from home as a direct result of having access to their iPad, and subsequently is helping overcome the recovery of education."
Deputy Principal of Oasis Academy MediaCityUK Joanne Gorman, states that introducing iPad into the curriculum “opens up a world of learning and means that all of our students - despite their starting points - have equality in their education.
“Teachers can now monitor student performance in numeracy and literacy in school and at home," she added.
"Not only this, but from a security standpoint, staff are able to view what content students are accessing.
"It unites all of us, underpinning the curriculum and everything we’re doing.
"It’s been transformational.”
Sync have been working with Oasis Community Learning on this project since February 2020.
Head of Sales, Tom Crump, said: “The ground-breaking Oasis Horizons project was the first deployment in England where iPad has been adopted at this scale - with one device per staff and pupil being provided to 52 academies.
"This has been a blueprint for a lot of other Trusts across the UK that are looking at creating a similar learning environment.
"To make it sustainable over nine years, the devices had to be really cost effective to deploy at scale."
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