C4K Education

Cornish entrepreneur develops educational portal to help children prepare for Year 6 SATs

Rachael Ede, a teacher turned digital marketeer, set up her innovative business Compare4 kids from her base in Newquay. Tech savvy Rachael could see other opportunities to develop another completely different business, SATs Boot Camp, designed to help Year 6 children revising for their SATs tests.

With her strong tech skills and years spent in education, she could see the need in the market for a digital tool to help make learning and practising for SATs fun. This can be a time of real pressure for both teachers and pupils and Rachael could see a way to turn that around. She started developing a web portal for teachers to practice with children for the SATs test, making learning fun and generating useful insights to help teachers focus on areas needing extra support.

SATs Boot Camp received 50% match funding from Superfast Business Cornwall to implement the new software expanding the new product to schools and parents.

Rachael approached Superfast Business Cornwall to help with the development of a new and easy-to-use portal to create a new resource for Year 6 children preparing for SATs. Working with Steve Edwards and Jon Gerrard to develop a proposition, she was able to access funding to help her get the necessary software and to develop the portal.

The new platform allows children to practice test questions and take the pressure out of SATs preparation. It comprises of English and Maths tests and papers for revision with further subjects in planning for the future. Parents and teachers can sign up for the service for a small fee.

Teachers will easily be able to manage the process of the children in their class. The system records all answers and instantly auto-marks the questions, allowing teachers to see data on gaps in learning, both at an individual and whole class level. In-depth reports are accessible, to allow teachers to analyse any of these gaps so that they can provide bespoke training to the children.

“This new product will transform our business, enabling us to widen the reach of our current school market.  The new product will generate new income, which eventually will be used to grow the business further, and to widen the product to other primary school years,” says Rachael Ede.

SATs Boot Camp has had the added benefit of upgrading existing schools whilst allowing the product to target new schools and the parent market, which they were not doing previously, and have never actively sought after. “This new portal delivers a great platform and will open the door for other subjects and school years to be added in the future,” adds Digital Business Enabler Steve Edwards.

The business plans to hire an Administration Officer in 2019 and their minimum growth in turnover is estimated at 20% over the next 2 years.

“We are really happy to have been given the opportunity to access funding to develop this great platform, which really is a game changer and can help children, not only in Cornwall but the rest of the UK. I would highly recommend other businesses approach Superfast Business Cornwall for expert advice and impartial support,” Rachael highlights.

The service was funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and delivered by Serco Employment, Skills and Enterprise, national market leaders in the provision of Superfast Broadband focused business support. Building upon the success of the previous Superfast Business Cornwall Service, the latest project ran until March 2019.

To find out more about the SATs Boot Camp, go to: www.satsbootcamp.co.uk/sbc/