Based in Coventry, St Andrew's Church of England Infant School is a caring and supportive environment for children aged 4-7 years. They provide high-quality early years education, with student safety and school compliance as a priority.
Headteacher Allison Underhill previously managed compliance manually, which proved to be time-consuming and stressful. The school made the switch to iAM Compliant to ensure compliance and free up capacity for other priorities. Thanks to the system, a recent H&S audit scheduled for two days was completed in just half a day. They've also created their Climate Action Plan with iAM ahead of the September deadline.
We recently spoke to Allison about her overall experience with us...
How were you managing compliance before using iAM Compliant? Were you facing any particular challenges?
Previously, I had to keep all of this information in my head or produce my own spreadsheets documenting when reviews were needed or keep checking back through records to see if and when compliance checks were due/overdue.
As a school, we had all of the required compliance documents, but stored them in many different places, which meant managing them took a lot of time and required me to remember when things needed doing. This took a lot of time and caused a lot of stress.
How did you first hear about iAM Compliant, and what made you choose our system?
By complete chance through an internet search. The system was so user-friendly and provided a management system which took care of so much of the ‘business’ side of running a school that can take up so much of a Headteacher’s time. It solved so many problems and was great value for money.
You recently had a H&S audit at the school, how do you feel iAM Compliant helped with the process?
I didn’t have to worry about tracking down and organising all of the documents that I would be required to share. Everything was in one place and (due to the great reminders I receive) nothing needed a last-minute update. This was the quickest, and least stressful, audit I’ve ever had. With a quick click of the mouse I was able to instantly provide the auditor with all of the evidence they needed.
What outcomes and benefits have you seen with iAM Compliant? Do you feel the system saves you time and money?
I can sleep at night, knowing that everything I need to have in place is done and that I get advance warnings (and polite reminders) when things need reviewing or completing. I also have a record of who has read and signed off on policies and completed training, which helps to ensure compliance. We have an up-to-date asset register which is easy to maintain, along with risk assessments which are succinct and actually read by staff. I have a very happy SSO who thinks the ‘planned maintenance weekly tasks’ part of the system is fantastic.
Staff are very positive about the training too. It’s engaging, challenging, but not time-consuming, and they get a certificate at the end.
Using the new iAM Sustainable feature, we have a climate action plan in place now too, which is something I’d been putting off doing for a while!
How have you found the access to support from iAM Compliant?
The system is so user-friendly that it’s very unusual for us to need any support. On the rare occasions that we have, the response time is great, and problems (due to user error, rather than system shortfalls) are always easily and satisfactorily solved.
How would you describe iAM Compliant to other schools?
Invaluable - the only regret you’ll have is that you hadn’t discovered it sooner!
Ready to try out iAM Compliant for yourself? Try it for free and see the core features of our comprehensive compliance management tool now.
