Member Article

University of Warwick’s new engineering academy selects cloud-based MIS from Advanced Learning

Progresso to support students’ academic progress and streamline Ofsted reporting

The WMG Academy for Young Engineers, a University Technical College (UTC) sponsored by the University of Warwick, is implementing Progresso, a cloud-based management information system (MIS) from Advanced Learning. WMG’s decision to invest in the Progresso system, which will be rolled out in a phased approach, forms part of its wider £10.5 million investment into its new school building and IT infrastructure.

Opened in September 2014, The WMG Academy for Young Engineers is one of a number of new UTCs. The WMG Academy focuses on providing engineering, ICT and digital technology courses for 14 to 19 year-old students from the Coventry, Warwickshire and Solihull areas.

Progresso was selected following a competitive tendering process involving six other software providers. The MIS will initially be used to monitor the academic performance of WMG Academy’s 240 Year 10 and Year 12 students. The solution enables heads of departments, teachers, parents and support staff to securely access tailored school information and provides a clear picture of each student’s learning progress online.

Andrew Powell, Director of Operations and Finance at The WMG Academy for Young Engineers, says, “We required state-of-the-art facilities and solutions to provide the highest standards in learning and development for our students and to assist us to collaborate seamlessly with parents and businesses.

“We considered a number of MIS systems but many suppliers required us to compromise on our specific needs. In contrast, Progresso was able to meet our extensive list of requirements and offered the flexibility and cost benefits of a cloud-based solution to support our ambitious expansion plans.”

Progresso will provide the WMG Academy with a complete overview of its performance to easily evaluate and improve the effectiveness of specific intervention strategies. Student trends can be quickly displayed and analysed in a single intuitive dashboard module, which saves time manually searching for the data. The Academy can therefore devote more time to taking remedial action, and can benefit from more streamlined Ofsted reporting.

The solution’s cloud-hosted portals also allow teachers, students and parents to customise and view their own information from smartphone and tablet devices. Information including learner data, attendance, behaviour, timetables and assessments, will be accessible via a secure single user log-in to further assist learner progress.

Powell comments, “Progresso will complement and support our innovative ways of working. Its powerful analytics will be key to providing the data we need to accurately measure and continually improve our performance. As a result we will be able to maximise efficiency levels and fulfil extensive statutory reporting requirements in a timely manner.”

Advanced Learning is part of Advanced Business Solutions, an Advanced Computer Software Group company. Advanced was recently named Tech Company of the Year at the UK Tech Awards.

-ENDS- Notes to Editor

About The WMG Academy for Young Engineers www.wmgacademy.org.uk

Opened in September 2014, The WMG Academy for Young Engineers is a new University Technical College situated in Coventry for 14 to 19 year old students from the Coventry, Warwickshire and Solihull areas. It will focus on engineering and digital technologies.

Working with the University of Warwick and some of the biggest employers in the region has enabled the Academy to shape its curriculum from day one to ensure it will produce students with a professional ethos and culture that is in high demand in today’s working world.

About Advanced Learning www.advancedcomputersoftware.com/learning

Advanced Learning provides innovative technology solutions to more than 2,000 educational institutions throughout the UK and across the world. The company is strongly committed to sustained investment in the education market, continuously developing its product portfolio to meet the changing needs of schools and academies. Advanced Learning is also focused on delivering facilities management solutions to the local government and enterprise sectors.

Advanced Learning forms part of Advanced Business Solutions (Public Sector & Enterprise Division), an Advanced Computer Software Group plc company.

Press contacts: Angela Mycock and Ben Carey, Advanced Computer Software Group pr@advancedcomputersoftware.com +44(0)1625 856 513

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Advanced .