Case Study

Kent College, Canterbury, Kent

Customer Profile
Kent College is a vibrant independent co-educational day and boarding school situated in an idyllic semi-rural position on the edge of the historic city of Canterbury. It has 490 students between the ages of 11 and 18, with approximately a third being boarders coming from some 30 countries.

The Education Challenge
In February 2006 the Music Department at Kent College was given the go ahead to purchase a new computer music suite and recording studio to be located in the beautiful building which previously housed the college library. The music and IT staff were keen to see improvements over their previous computer music network, so they determined that the new suite be installed and supported by a specialist company with a proven track record in this area.

The Solution
Counterpoint designed and installed a comprehensive music ICT network comprising of 21 specialist music PC workstations, a dedicated music department server and a suite of network teaching tools, enabling teachers to observe and interact with students from a central teacher PC. The teacher can broadcast their screen to all student PC's, power-on and power-off the systems remotely, lock the student computers and engage with pupils one-on-one, all from the teacher's desk.

The Recording Studio is a 24 Track Digital System that was balanced to meet the needs of the curriculum with the potential of being used as a commercial project studio. There are live audio feeds from the main classrooms, percussion room and a further ensemble room, directly into the recording studio. The Control Room was professionally treated to provide an optimal acoustic environment, and in order to integrate recording projects with the classroom, the recording studio was made accessible via the data network. The Classroom Keyboard system is a bespoke solution, designed to meet the college's specific requirements and budget, enabling the teacher to monitor any of the student stations from the teacher's desk.

The Benefits
The music ICT suite provides Kent College's students with software tools for a wide range of musical abilities and interests. The teacher benefits from a selection of tools and resources: audio recording and assessment, reference material for an ICT-based scheme of work, and software designed for whole-class teaching. The 24 track recording studio control room provides the students with the opportunity to compose, arrange, produce and post-produce their own pieces using professional sounds and microphones before mastering them down to CD.

"The music department of Kent College, Canterbury decided to go with Counterpoint as against other tenders because we were impressed with their education-specific knowledge and experience of music technology, and the integrated nature of their proposals. I have been impressed also with the confidence, professionalism and flexibility of the contacts we've dealt with. Their ability to listen to our needs and concerns, explain problems and issues, and find creative solutions to the specific type of environment have lead to a productive relationship being forged. Counterpoint has also been entirely reasonable in terms of their after sales service and backup. As a result of these obvious strengths, our Counterpoint installation is now the pride of the school for staff and students alike."

Paul Bourdillon
Head of Music Technology
Kent College

< Return to Solutions page