Author: Chris Loveday, Barton Peveril Sixth Form College
Today’s educational institutions face a dual mandate: delivering an outstanding, future-ready student experience while managing increasingly tight operational budgets. At Barton Peveril Sixth Form College, one of the UK’s largest sixth-form colleges serving over 5,000 students, we confronted this challenge head-on.
Despite operating entirely on Chrome devices and utilising Google Workspace for Education, our servers remained on-premises. When our hosting provider was acquired, we faced a staggering 500% increase in on-prem server and licensing costs. Many institutions accepted the increase because it was the easier option, but for us this critical moment served as the catalyst for an ambitious goal: a complete, accelerated migration of all our on-prem servers to Google Cloud within a strict nine-month window. We already had a digital strategy that suggested moving to a cloud-first approach to enhance cyber security, reduce operational costs, and minimise our environmental footprint. The price increase and short time frame meant it would only be possible with the right partner.
Bridging the gap with SoftwareOne
We needed an expert to execute this high-stakes migration whilst maintaining our core operations. We chose SoftwareOne because they intimately understood our educational context, our objectives, and shared our forward-looking mindset. Their deep knowledge of Google Cloud and robust technical capabilities gave us the confidence to navigate a complex migration, which even included converting older system languages into current, cloud-compatible versions.
Crucially, SoftwareOne’s presence on the OCRE framework[1] provided us with instant access to significant discounts well beyond standard education rates. Entering a multi-year engagement unlocked additional funding, ongoing professional services, and the assurance that our migration would be completed ahead of our aggressive nine-month deadline with zero delays. This felt like a true partnership and not a traditional transactional relationship.
Pioneering AI in education
Migrating to Google Cloud wasn’t merely about moving servers; it was about building a robust foundation to support our work with AI. With our infrastructure secure, we have developed bespoke AI agents hosted entirely on Google Cloud, built in Vertex AI, and powered by the Gemini API.
We created two key tools for our campus:
- Barton Buddy (Student Digital Assistant): This tool removes daily friction by integrating data from the entire Google stack and external APIs. Students can naturally ask, “What lesson have I got next?” or check the daily lunch menu, breaking down the barriers of logging into multiple disparate systems.
- Peveril Assistant (Staff Digital Assistant): A system that streamlines administrative and faculty tasks. Staff can instantly pull their timetables or ask HR questions, with the AI reading through our college policies to provide hyperlinked, accurate answers.
These innovations, together with our other agents, saved over 1,000 labour hours per year. This is a valuable return on our investment. Our IT team, like all our teams, is very lean. By outsourcing our managed services to SoftwareOne, our staff are now free to focus entirely on the student experience rather than server maintenance.
Commitment to digital equity and safe AI
At Barton Peveril, our commitment to digital equity is paramount. All 5,000 of our students receive free access to our custom version of Gemini, known as Barton AI, our bespoke Large Language Model (LLM). In addition, financially disadvantaged students are provided with a device and internet access to ensure digital equality.
We are firmly dedicated to AI safety. Our development process included deployment to a sandbox site before a “red team” of students and staff to aggressively test the agents to ensure their safety and accuracy. Enhanced guardrails built within Vertex AI restrict inappropriate content and track all input and output – question asked and answer given. With these guardrails and our filtering running in the background, if a student asks a question of a safeguarding nature, it is instantly flagged to a designated safeguarding lead. We also felt it was our absolute responsibility to educate young people on the ethical and safe use of large language models, preparing them for the modern world of work.
Join us at TNC26
If you are attending TNC26, visit SoftwareOne at their booth to see firsthand how they are helping educational and research institutions drive innovation with Google Cloud. Don’t miss the speaking sessions showcasing real-world examples of AI transforming academic environments.
To learn more about SoftwareOne’s services under the OCRE framework and how they can accelerate your institution’s digital transformation, visit softwareone.com/ocre-2024.
