Croxteth Comprehensive School Profile
Croxteth Community Comprehensive School is an 11-18 co-educational school
serving the areas of Croxteth, Dovecot and Norris Green.
Do you wish you had all your student data at your finger tips?
Read how this school did just that.
Winstanley College
Lancashire-based Winstanley College, one of the UK's leading
sixth form colleges, uses FileMaker for a range of processes. Ten years ago,
the college was using a basic database that ran on a single Macintosh; however
the college's complex needs had outgrown its capacity. The college then adopted
FileMaker, and, using an in-house team, have gradually expanded their network.
Now the system runs on 40-50 PCs and is an integral part of all college
processes. There are many aspects of college systems that require a database
and FileMaker manages all of the required applications, from the initial student
interviews, enrolment and subsequent course changes through to personnel,
examination entries, registration and library loans/returns. The databases can
run as stand alone applications but can also be interlinked if appropriate.
Winstanley have recently published their library catalogue over the web using
FileMaker Unlimited, making it available to students via their intranet site.
"The sheer range of situations that FileMaker lends itself to is extraordinary.
Many colleges seem daunted by the prospect of setting up their own system,
presumably because they imagine it has to be a complex process. They don't
realise that you can get FileMaker out of the box, load it and have a basic,
networked database in less than an hour," said Peter Jambors, Management
Information Systems Officer at Winstanley College. "Colleges can also then
design the system round their existing process, rather than having to adjust
all their daily routines and reports to match the package. Staff who come from
other colleges to work here often state how much easier FileMaker is to use and
to produce reports than the expensive packages which can be purchased from
software houses."
Winstanley uses FileMaker Pro and all networked files reside on a server. In
its most recent government inspection, the College was praised for the quality
of, amongst other things, its academic monitoring of students, its support
systems, quality assurance and management effectiveness. All of these areas
benefit considerably from the information provided by the MIS FileMaker system.
