How Stephen Perse Foundation Transformed Digital Safeguarding with Fastvue

Following our recent interview and conversation with Andrew Brett, Director of IT & Systems Development at Stephen Perse Cambridge, we wanted to do a deeper dive into the real-life impact and some further insights. To read a general overview of how they implemented Fastvue, take a look at the case study here. 

In case you missed it, the Stephen Perse Foundation encompasses a range of schools including Stephen Perse Cambridge. They are very tech-focused and are an Apple Distinguished School. They’ve been using iPads for 10+ years and with the latest KCSiE changes, they needed an efficient way to monitor their student's technology usage. 

Simplifying Digital Safeguarding

The Stephen Perse Foundation previously used a monitoring tool that functioned technically but required them to set up their reports and select their key terms manually which Andrew described as a “mammoth task”. Not only that, but the reports weren’t easy for all educational staff to understand. All of these issues led the Stephen Perse Foundation to find a new solution that worked both technically and was user-friendly for non-technical staff. 

Since implementing Fastvue, any staff member who needed a report has been able to quickly generate one whenever required and easily interpret the data. Andrew claims

Fastvue provides easy interpretation and presents the most relevant data in a quick and digestible format.” He also said, “It’s rare that we need to check more thoroughly than we normally do since we run weekly regular reports. But it’s nice that the Digital Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) can run a report whenever they need to themselves.

How Fastvue’s Real-Time Alerts Enhance Student Protection

We wanted to know what it was that really helped Stephen Perse Foundation achieve success when monitoring, filtering and reporting, and what their main reason is for sticking with Fastvue so far. Andrew said;

The alerts have been most useful to us. Fastvue identifies a potential concern based on a student's web search and immediately sends an email to the relevant person. This allows us real-time monitoring, where we can act fast on any safeguarding or behavioural concerns. Monitoring is a key requirement of KCSiE, and Fastvue supports us in satisfying it.

“The comprehensive keywords alerts database was the selling point”, says Andrew. Although there are many keywords that Fastvue keeps updated as trends arise, each school may also have their own they wish to monitor. Andrew mentioned he found it useful that you can flag the word “cutting” but not when it came before or after the word “cake”. 

The Real-Life Impact of Fastvue in Education Safeguarding

From the above, it’s clear that the Stephen Perse Foundation has discovered some immediate benefits to using Fastvue. One of our core goals when it comes to operating in the education sector is to help keep students safe online, so we’re pleased to hear that our solution is doing that. 

Andrew let us in on an insight about a particular student;

We had a student that we only discovered had an eating disorder as a result of the Fastvue alerts and reporting. Being able to identify an issue like this early meant we were able to provide support and help to prevent the situation from becoming much worse. Being able to deal with it quickly really put us on the front foot. If we hadn’t had Fastvue this could have gone on a lot longer before we would have noticed.

We know there can be some really challenging situations with students so we are always relieved to hear our system is helping to improve real lives.

Fastvue’s Simplicity and Technical Benefits for Schools

On a more technical side, Fastvue is built to make life simpler for staff, with quick and easy implementation with minimal day-to-day management. Not only that but we aim to provide clear, easy-to-understand reporting and most importantly, effectively safeguard students online. Andrew believes Fastvue has done this for the Stephen Perse Foundation so far - “It’s taken us to the next level of protection”.

Elevate Your School’s Safeguarding with Fastvue

Ready to elevate your school's digital safeguarding? Schedule a demo with Fastvue today.