In early November Rachael Read, Director of Post 16 at Walton High Academy went in search of a viable alternative and contacted John Allard, Managing Director of The Video News Factory Ltd about the possibility of running a virtual event and live Streaming open evenings. During the initial consultation it became obvious live streaming would be a logistical nightmare with so many subjects to cover. And how would viewers get to easily see exactly what information they were really interested in without watching an entire 2 or 3 hour event? How would the school manage questions and protect the event from mischievous anti-social trolls?
John Allard came back with an ambitious alternative that could be delivered by early December. TVNF would record showcase videos for all 45 subjects. Then design and build a self-service event platform to host all the videos together with a prospectus for the school and each subject. This would operate 24/7 and be connected to social media. Even better, it would allow visitors to interact and ask any questions, even make comments which would then be vetted before publication. The concept would be called Post 16 HUB. TVNF took responsibility for providing a Turn-Key solution supported by on-line project-management, with staff training and briefing videos.
This included design and build of a ‘pop-up website that would be specially branded as P16 HUB and blend in with the existing website.
Then TVNF set about creating a temporary TV studio at Walton High. To make it easy to film all 45 Subjects with short presentations made by course leaders this used a ‘green screen’ studio so that there was no risk of any distractions, noise and a controlled environment meant each video only took 20 minutes to film. Teachers were able to send scripts ahead to TVNF to play on an autocue, and cameras were sent to real classes and facilities to show each subject in action.
TVNF also brought in former BBC and Bloomberg TV presenter, Cat King, to help coach those who lacked camera confidence and make the filming a fun and enjoyable event.
The project completed on the 8th of December 2021 and took just 3 weeks to complete, so Walton High are now ready to run major promotion with their new P16 HUB.
Rachael Read – Director for Walton High P16 commented on how the project was delivered.
“Working with John Allard and his team at the TVNF has been seamless from start to finish. From our very first conversation, John used his extensive knowledge and experience to help us realise our vision of how we wanted to connect with prospective students and their parents. The TVNF team then worked tirelessly with us to ensure we were trained in all necessary technical elements and that we were able to creatively showcase everything Walton High Post 16 has to offer”
John Allard, Managing Director of The Video News Factory Limited said:
“The project could not have happened at this pace without the decisiveness and professionalism of the Walton High Senior Management team. We were also hugely impressed by the tutors, the students and facilities and proud to have been able to deliver to promise for one of the most amazing and prestigious education facilities in Milton Keynes for Post 16.”
Take a look at Walton High’s P16 HUB welcome video:
