The Essa Academy is one of Essa Foundation’s projects. It was the first school in the UK to move into a 1:1 handheld mobile learning environment. This was before tablets were on the market. The academy caters for a student population of 900 and has over 40 languages that are spoken at the school. Although it is state funded, the impact on learning was measurable and students were able to access learning and communicate with teachers at any time.
Currently the school has a 1:1 tablet program, where lesson planning and courses are created on iTunes U by teachers. This provides a high level of transparency for parents, and students are able to learn independently. Currently, the school has a number of free courses online with over 20,000 subscribers from all over the world. The school has been able to benefit from operational efficiencies such as significantly reduced use of printers and photocopiers as well as a reduction in the purchase of textbooks.
