Great Southern Grammar embraces AI to boost high-impact teaching

Schools face many unique technology challenges. Staff and students move from room to room and run a variety of applications. Devices need to survive being transported in school bags. All day battery life from a laptop is a must and devices need to be robust – there's no better test for a laptop's longevity than putting it in the hands of a teenager.

Great Southern Grammar School, in the south-western city of Albany, was facing a number of issues with its ageing fleet of laptops. Screen size and cramped keyboards meant many families needed to supplement systems with external screens and keyboards at home. And many teachers, particularly after lunch, had students arriving in class with flat batteries resulting in a time-wasting scramble for power outlets.

Kieran Bailey is the school's IT leader and a classroom teacher. His dual role puts him at the intersection of finding the best technology solutions for the school and having insight into the needs of teachers.   

"A new principal joined the school in 2024 with an objective to focus on high-impact teaching practices," Kieran explains. "We heard from our school community that the devices we had weren't cutting it and keeping pace with the strategy. That led us to making some significant changes."

Kieran started with a pilot program based on a Microsoft Surface 7 laptop. Before engaging with suppliers, he visited a local bricks-and-mortar store and purchased a unit. After some testing with the technology team – there was a requirement to ensure all the school's applications worked correctly on the ARM-based platform – the device was passed to a small group of teachers, who each tested the device for a week, before repeating the exercise with a select group of students.

While larger organisations might prefer a broader pilot with more devices, schools operate with tight budgets. But the results of that limited pilot were overwhelmingly positive.

"Battery life was the highlight for most staff and students. When you have students moving between classes for six hours a day, by the end of the day, they'd come to class with a flat battery. That meant spending the first 10 minutes of limited classroom time sorting out device issues rather than actually teaching."

The Snapdragon chips that power the Surface Laptop 7 devices was a major benfit for Great Southern Grammar. Nathan Wilson, Director of Business Development Qualcomm, says "Great Southern Grammar demonstrates what is possible when you put that level of processing power, all-day battery life, and on-device AI capability into the hands of students. Investing in Snapdragon-powered devices today means schools are also future-proofing for what's next. These laptops can handle today's AI workloads and are ready for transformative AI applications still to come. This makes them a smart long-term investment."

System performance is just one significant factor that Kieran needed to consider. With over 900 staff and students, support was also important. Schools have regular turnover each year as older students graduate and younger ones arrive. Device maintenance and set up were major factors Kieran needed to consider.

Leveraging the school's investment in InTune, Kieran's lean team – he has just three staff – can provision a new device in 20 minutes.

"The teachers that were involved in the trial led the way and gave us some terrific feedback. From there, we've continued to roll out those Surface devices and found that as we offer training in tools like Microsoft Learning Zone that uses the built-in AI capability on the device, we've actually had staff that have been coming to us and requesting an upgrade of their existing device," Kieran says.

With Great Southern Grammar's quest to deliver high-impact teaching, the new technology isn't being pushed onto teachers. As they see the benefits from their colleagues, they are becoming more engaged with the technology.  

"We practically have people banging on our door asking for an upgrade. That creates challenges but it's a good problem to have. We're at that point where the majority are utilising this technology and these tools. And those that are a little reticent are being supported to join in with the rest."

It's almost impossible to discuss the role of technology in education without talking about AI. This is an area where businesses should follow the lead of schools like Great Southern Grammar. Leveraging Microsoft devices and other services like Microsoft 365 and Copilot puts AI front and centre for the school.

"We're being intentional about where AI can save teachers time, but also mindful of the ethics behind appropriate AI use. That's in our policy documents and built into some of the frameworks that we're developing to make sure that AI is beneficial, and that staff have the tools and the capacity to be able to leverage it. But we're also working with students to help them be more discerning – not just about when to use AI but in how to understand whether the outputs from AI are to be trusted."

Underpinning many of the school's initiatives is the need to maintain a safe environment. All devices are running Microsoft Defender and extended detection and response is through Microsoft Security Centre. Rolling out multi-factor authentication for students remains a challenge.

"We've tried to find the balance between it being an educational device and using the device to a certain degree without restriction. We try to balance security, especially when users are not using our network. Tools like Windows Hello and hard drive encryption with BitLocker are a big part of that," explains Kieran.

Businesses can learn a lot from Kieran and his team at Great Southern Grammar. With a lean budget and small team, Kieran has been able to lead a significant technology transformation that is paying dividends. By leveraging modern tools and looking at where engaging technologies like AI can add the most value, he's been able to continue to prepare the school for the next wave of the country's future.