Behind every great learning experience is a technology system working quietly in the background. At Barker College, those systems weren’t always as connected or efficient as the school needed them to be.
For Dr. Andy Mifsud, Director of Digital Learning and Innovation, the mission was clear: give staff the tools and visibility that would support learning and free up time for more strategic thinking.
In this Q&A, Dr. Mifsud reflects on the school’s journey to Veracross, from the early frustrations with their old system to the collaborative process that shaped a smoother, more connected experience for staff, students and parents.
What were some of the biggest frustrations with your previous SIS, and what impact was that having day-to-day?
Some of the biggest challenges we faced with our previous SIS were around efficiency. We had a lot of processes that became very inefficient on the old platform. From a teaching and learning perspective, it was things like reporting, marks and assessments; things that are high-pressure activities at the school.
That affected our day-to-day teaching and learning by putting a lot of roadblocks in the process. Staff were struggling with processes that were inefficient, there was a lot of angst around the staff as well dealing with things that take a lot of time and a lot of energy.
The other big challenge for us was getting access to data. We knew we had lots of data in our old system and in many other systems, but it was really difficult to piece it all together to get a comprehensive view of the student to assess their needs and see a big picture of where the student was at.
What finally pushed Barker College to start looking for SIS alternatives?
We went through a very lengthy process to see if we could fix our old system. We called it our remediation phase and looked at all our requirements to see if the system could meet them. Even if it couldn’t, we looked at if we could improve it through training, through augmentations from other systems, or could we change our processes.
After all that extra work, it did come to a point in our analysis that it was going to be too costly and too difficult to meet all of our requirements. It was after a lengthy process when we felt like we were confident to make to make a decision that we were better off looking for an alternative system.
Who did you involve in the conversation about making the switch to a new SIS?
One of our greatest learnings from the previous implementation was about stakeholder engagement. This time, we made a concerted effort to involve stakeholders authentically from the start: first in remediation, then in selection.
We had some great external consultants helping to guide the process and went wide across the staff, empowering them to get active in the process. Not only working out what their requirements are but being present in the design of solutions. We ended up involving over 80 staff as key representatives through the selection process.
Did involving stakeholders early help with the transition to going live?
Absolutely. Bringing in stakeholders right from the start, while it was challenging, it meant staff were on board right from the start when we were designing what that solution might look like. All the time we spent in those early phases really paid off down the end—we were in a better position to make decisions and already halfway through designing the final system. To have stakeholders invested from the start, helping to dream up and design what the end solution might look like, did actually save us some time in the end.
How did you manage the team’s expectations on what would be delivered?
Setting expectations was a really important part of this process, and it came back to involving stakeholders from the beginning. Where requirements couldn’t be met, we worked in partnership with the Veracross team to co-design solutions.
Staff knew the system wasn’t going to be able to do everything, but by working in partnership with Veracross and our internal team to work out what some solutions might be, actually meant that all our stakeholders had ownership. We set very clear expectations, and when we finally did go through implementation, we had a pretty good idea of what to expect.
What were your non-negotiables with the new system?
Our non-negotiables were first about addressing the speed and efficiency of processes. We identified that as one of the biggest hurdles in our previous system. We were looking for something quick, responsive, and built on modern architecture.
We were also looking for something that was powerful. We didn’t want to have to adapt the system and build in augmentations. We wanted to see that the system was configurable enough to allow us to mould it to our situation without having to bend it or break it.
Finally, we wanted something all-in-one, centralise and not rely on so many different apps.
What stood out about Veracross during the evaluation process?
The partnership. The Veracross team listened to us, took the time to understand the Australian market and the needs of our school, and worked with us to co-design solutions. We felt like we were going into this as a partnership, not just buying a product.
Then the system itself was meeting all of our key requirements. It was quick, responsive, we could adapt it and find the information we needed. It also covered so many of our modules—we could finally bring in student records from the moment they’re interested in joining Barker, to the point that they become part of alumni. Having that single record and being able to trace the story of the student is really important to us.
How has the implementation process gone?
The implementation has actually been wonderful. All the effort we put into selection and making sure we had the right tool has paid off in implementation. We gave ourselves time not just take a product and throw in our existing processes but to redesign them with the Veracross tool in mind.
We took time to rethink how we do assessment and reporting with Veracross in mind, maximising what it does really well and adapting our processes to meet it. It became a really joyous occasion, rethinking how we do things and starting with a blank slate in some cases.
We found the team really great to work with: very patient, and willing to understand how we would like the tool to work.
Has anything so far given you confidence you made the right decision?
We saw early signs we had picked the right tool with our academics implementation. We gave staff early access to features of Veracross like marking the roll and entering wellbeing information.
We used that as an opportunity to seek early feedback to make some adjustments and make sure we had the training right. And all the feedback that we got from our staff early on was really positive. Now that we’ve been working with Veracross academics for a full term, we decided to go back to key stakeholders and run some review sessions. The feedback about the improvements to speed and efficiency was overwhelming. And being able to see the data in one place. It was really heartwarming to see that we met our key requirements.
What impact has more visibility had for the teaching staff?
It’s had a huge impact on our teaching staff. In our previous system, we were spending so much time just managing basic operations; so much effort to just be able to present a good story to the students and parents.
Now, we’ve lifted our base, we’re at a level where we can start dreaming about new things that we can do, better ways that we can communicate, better ways to build a picture on a student learning and really encapsulate everything that goes on at the school. We feel very confident about our future now that we’ve started using Veracross.
Have you had any feedback from parents?
We were really lucky to have a group of invested parents who played a very important role throughout implementation and training. The feedback that we’ve had from parents has been great, particularly about the ability to have everything centralised in one area. We’re looking forward to a couple of new things coming relating to student billing and collecting donations. Those are all on the cards and we know parents are pretty excited.
We’ve also been able to launch a new alumni portal. To have all of our former students be able to reconnect with the school, through that one portal has been fantastic.
The staff members that are also parents and former students are a particularly interesting case, where they had a very fractured experience tin the past. By allowing multiple personas, Veracross gives a much more cohesive experience for anyone that carries multiple roles at the school.
How will Veracross improve communication and transparency with parents?
Communication and transparency are a big deal for every school. There’s a fine balance between over- and under-communicating and we tread this very fine line in between. That’s been a challenge for us in the past, having different systems that were responsible for communication.
It is our hope now that we can streamline communications, having everything appear in one place. We’ve already started to see some of those benefits. It prompted us to rethink our internal processes to make sure that we’re meeting the demands of parents.
What are you most looking forward to as Veracross becomes part of daily life at Barker College?
Being so heavily invested in the selection and implementation, I am personally really looking forward to the moment when Veracross fades into the background and just becomes part of the natural ways of working and the language here at the school.
That’s when technology has been implemented at its best; when it fades into the background and we know that it’s just there as a constant that we can rely on and draw upon when we need to. When you’re thinking too much about technology, it’s often for the wrong reasons.
Already, it feels like aspects are just starting to seep into the fabric of the school. And that’s fantastic. It’s working alongside us. We’re not having to fight with it.
What advice would you give to schools about to begin a SIS implementation?
Rethink some of your processes with the new tool in mind. Be willing to adapt processes. The more fixed your view is on how you make things work, the harder it is to implement. If you’re willing to go with the strengths of the tool and wrap your processes around that, you’ll achieve a really good outcome.
Ready for change at your school?
Book a demo with our team to learn what’s possible with a Veracross SIS.
