Kent County Council - Case Study
Kent County Council’s digitally joined-up view of children and young people enables their teams to make informed decisions and improve outcomes across a wide range of education and support services.
From primary and secondary admissions to SEN and early years, our education management system, Synergy, helps make information sharing simple, and improves efficiencies across the board at Kent County Council.
Introduction
With more than 1.5 million residents, Kent has the largest population in England, giving the county’s local authority a unique set of requirements. The Council’s legacy software had evolved from a number of disparate systems, so they were keen to develop and procure a single solution.
When Kent County Council went to market, Synergy, our education management system, stood out as user-friendly and cost-effective. Synergy was able to meet Kent County Council’s long-term development plans of rationalising systems, saving money, and supporting service efficiency through streamlined processes and a more joined-up view of children and young people.
How we helped
Kent County Council implemented our Synergy education management system in 2017, starting with the Admissions module. Kent is a selective local authority and so the Kent Test – the means of assessing whether a grammar school is a suitable option for the child – has its own set of requirements.
We developed the Admissions module to meet requirements around the Kent Test, in addition to the existing core functionality it had for the statutory primary and secondary admissions process.
The Admissions module enables parents to apply for school places online, removing the need for local authorities and schools to spend time entering data. The system manages the admissions, transfers and appeals processes across all schools and key stages, along with within-year admissions.
The Council also went on to implement the Special Educational Needs, Early Years and Pupil Support Services modules, designed to save a local authority and schools time, improve efficiency and enable better information sharing.
When we went out to market, Synergy stood out as a system that was able to meet our needs. It is very user-friendly, and affordable too.
The result
- A more joined-up view of children and young people across the county, allowing the council to make more informed decisions about the services they provide.
- A consistent structure across all systems, so that staff are able to work in a more efficient way – reducing the administrative burden and removing duplication.
- Reduces costs paid annually for systems software and maintenance.
- Supports the directorate’s systems strategy for rationalised systems and integrated data.
Inspiring others
Implementing Synergy has marked the start of an integrated approach to systems change and development at Kent County Council, with robust systems governance in place to ensure a standardised approach across the Children, Young People and Education Directorate, to ensure systems support practice.
Thanks to our expert support in guiding the Council to make the most of Synergy, their teams can spend less time on administration and IT management and focus on improving outcomes for children and young people.
