Earlier this year, The Portal Trust awarded £30,000 to Stepney All Saints Secondary School to install an iMac suite in their music department.
Read about why the grant was needed and how the computers have made a difference to music education at the school.
The music department at Stepney All Saints has recently upgraded their digital audio workstations to iMacs with funding from The Portal Trust. iMacs possess significantly higher processing power than average PCs, something which is essential for editing music, film footage and photos to a professional standard.
Students at the school now have the opportunity to learn a range of advanced skills, including stop motion animation, green screen production and documentary and film making. This has greatly enhanced the school’s ability to prepare media and music students for entry into the creative industries by ensuring that they are equipped with the skills, knowledge and understanding of industry hardware and software.
The new iMacs have been particularly beneficial for current Year 11 students who have seen a positive difference in using the workstations compared to last year.
Manny shared that ‘there are a lot of updates and improvements. The workstations are faster and smoother to use, we have no issues. Even in the studio I am able to record my guitar soundtracks, something I was never able to do before. I potentially want to go to music college in the future and being able to use up-to-date technology will help me to prepare for college life.’
Ariful has also noticed a clear improvement, saying that ‘the software is a lot easier to use on these computers and there are a lot more options and technical aspects we can use to improve our work and further our skills, in comparison to the old computers and software.’
Danny thinks the added capabilities will directly benefit their GCSE work, adding that ‘These computers are a lot faster and will hopefully help to make a difference to what we achieve at GCSE. The audio is a lot better and clearer.’
Having these new workstations means that I can teach more efficiently and that the students can learn without any technical barriers or limitations. I have more time in classes to support students with musical progress, instead of dealing with technical issues that we were having. These upgraded workstations will help students to prepare for further education and employability within the field, as they now have the experience and skills to operate on industry standard digital audio workstations. Thank you to the Portal Trust for supporting our application.
Craig Holder
Head of Music at Stepney All Saints Secondary School
We’re proud to have helped fund the iMac suite and are pleased to hear the students are already benefitting from the new technology.