18 months ago, Emma Day was new to “Geography for GCSE” on This is School. The bright and dynamic Humanities Lead at Somervale School remembers her Head of MFL enticing her into his classroom for a demo.

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“He was raving about it and showed me how much they’ve been using it for Languages. I think he was one of the first to pick up that you’d started expanding your product offering.”

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Emma, my co-founder Anna Coneys Wainwright and I are chatting on a Friday afternoon on Google Meet and it’s immediately obvious that Somervale School are on to something special; Emma fizzes with energy and enthusiasm for what This is School has helped the school achieve.

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“When we first started assessing your curriculum, we’d never seen anything else like it before. Other digital platforms are just repositories of content or - if they have any interactivity - it isn’t hugely engaging. This is School is unique. It’s something our students have massively responded to.”

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We ask Emma to dig into the issues that she was facing before the rollout of the platform.

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“Before we started using This is School for Geography, we’d really been struggling to find a trustworthy digital alternative to traditional paper resources. So much of my department’s time used to be wasted on sourcing or creating materials. Now, we get that time back.”

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Time is one of the biggest constraints in the classroom. Even during our brief chat, Emma is called away several times to deal with something or someone popping up in her classroom.

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“You probably don’t even know this,” she continues, “but it has become so useful for parents’ evenings, because everything is there on the platform. I can bring up the student and actually show them exactly what they’ve been doing and where they’ve been struggling. This is massive for a team like ours and it really benefits the parents too.”

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I ask her if there was any particular feature of the platform which stuck out for her.

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“I can’t speak highly enough of the competitive edge your platform has. We are currently in the throes of a peanut obsession! (Peanuts are the “currency” which students earn when completing work on This is School.) Every week we award the top 3 students in every class a “Top Peanut” postcard which they take home to their parents. It really means something for them - and their parents - and demonstrates the value and the power of This is School beyond the purely academic benefits.”

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It’s such a pleasure speaking to a teacher like Emma; a reminder that our classrooms are filled with dynamic, passionate and compassionate people who love both their subject and the students they teach.

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“Students can feel overwhelmed when it comes to traditional revision books and guides. This is School is perfectly “chunked”. It solves the problem of access.”

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Another feature which she singles out are the student-led videos which accompany every module in the curriculum.

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“Student voice is a challenge to implement. But with those student-led videos - where student experts are imparting their knowledge - it becomes easy.”

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Cheekily, I ask if she’s able to quantify the improvement she’s seen in GCSE results.

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“Well, because we only recently moved over to AQA, I can’t yet put a number on how much the platform has improved results. But I know that is has, especially when it comes to the confidence of our students. That is invaluable.”

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The Headteacher comes in and gives us a brief wave. Emma tells us that she is seriously impressed with the buzz that TiS has helped drive in the school. Apparently the History department is desperate for us to produce resources for them! We ask about the rollout and if there’s anything we can do to improve.

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“The platform runs itself. That’s the beauty of it. It’s so easy to set homework - which we do every week - and you just know that they are getting the highest quality revision materials out there. You couldn’t ask for more.” She pauses. “The only thing I’d ask for is some kind of weekly workshop or webinar where I could send some of my newer teachers. There are so many features that I know you have but which we’re not yet using and we’d love to use them all!”

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Our time is up; Emma has her meeting with the Head. Emma promises to send me over some examples of her Top Peanut postcards and we manage to recruit this cheery Geographer teacher into helping us launch the GEO version of Nutty Tilez…

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Interested to find out how we can help you with your Geography GCSE requirements? Email info@thisisschool.com as ask for a free trial.