Willowfield School
At a Glance — Key Results
20–25 minutes → minutes: Investigations that once took half an hour now take minutes.
15 → 30 days retention: Double the storage, no added maintenance.
109 cameras: Near-total coverage across the East London campus.
15–20 minutes/day saved: IT no longer monitors or replaces DVRs.
Zero complaints: Seamless staff adoption via web access and SSO.
Background: A School with a Century of Care
For more than a century, Willowfield School has been a cornerstone of East London’s Waltham Forest community — a diverse, inclusive secondary school where over 50 languages are spoken and every pupil is encouraged to thrive. The school’s mission is simple yet profound: “Our pupils can compete with anyone, anywhere professionally and personally, in the world that is their future.”
As the campus expanded and new facilities came online, leadership realised their legacy CCTV could no longer keep pace. “With over a thousand pupils moving through the site each day, we needed complete visibility,” says Mike Thomas, School Business Leader. “Our older CCTV system made investigations time-consuming — an incident could take 20 to 25 minutes.”
The Challenge
The school’s legacy CCTV setup often became a bottleneck during critical moments. Images pixelated when multiple students appeared on-screen, downloads crashed mid-transfer, and storage was limited to roughly 15 days of footage. Even worse, if two users tried to access the system simultaneously, performance would plummet.
The limitations weren’t just technical — they directly affected confidence and responsiveness. Willowfield needed a solution that could deliver clarity, speed, and reliability without adding to IT’s workload.
“We were spending about 15 to 20 minutes a day just keeping the DVRs alive — checking drives, replacing hardware, and managing outdated software,” recalls Haroon Jogyat, IT Network Manager. “It wasn’t sustainable.”
A Modern Partnership
Seeking a smarter, cloud-based solution, Willowfield looked at a wide range of options when searching for its new CCTV system. They spoke to us as one of those options, and the school was then put in touch with J Brand, who had supported the school through previous IT upgrades. “They knew our setup inside out,” says Haroon. “The rollout was straightforward — mostly a plug-and-play swap from the old cameras. Within days, we were fully operational.”
A School Transformed
The difference was immediate. “If a pupil is absent from a lesson, we can find them within minutes. Before Verkada, it could take up to half an hour,” says Mike Thomas. “Now anyone on the leadership team can log in and see what’s happening.”
Investigations that once required IT are now self-service, with staff retracing movements across multiple cameras and sharing short-term links securely — no exporting, no downtime. “We gave staff a brief how-to guide, and that was all they needed,” adds Haroon. “Nearly two years later, we’ve had no negative feedback — it just works.”
Smart School Monitoring in Action
Once the technology was in place, Willowfield has started exploring how Verkada’s AI-powered features could actively support daily operations and student wellbeing.
Line-crossing alerts help staff monitor movement across key zones like gates or building entrances. When a person or vehicle crosses a digital boundary — such as leaving school during school hours — the system can notify staff immediately.
Watchlists discreetly flag when restricted visitors approach school gates, giving reception staff time to respond.
Loitering detection offers added visibility after hours by identifying prolonged presence in sensitive areas, helping the team distinguish between normal use and potential concerns.
Fence-climb and activity detection add peace of mind for lone site officers after hours, notifying the team if someone attempts to enter or exit the premises outside of normal hours. “It’s good to know that if something ever happened when staff are on their own, there’s a system that will alert us,” says Mike.
Always On, Always Reliable
At the school’s reception, a Verkada VX52 Viewing Station replaced an unstable PC grid that frequently crashed. Built on the Apple TV 4K™ platform with an A12 Bionic chip, the VX52 delivers ultra-responsive performance, streaming up to 30 camera feeds simultaneously with crisp playback and minimal latency.
“The quality is excellent, and it’s been rock-solid since day one,” says Haroon. “We haven’t had a single issue since installing it.”
Staff can now monitor activity across reception, corridors, and entry points in real time through customisable layouts and smart tiles that automatically surface the most active camera views. Even during an internet outage, the offline mode keeps live visibility running locally, helping ensure the team never loses sight of key areas. For schools like Willowfield — where real-time awareness is critical — the VX52 has become the central hub of campus visibility.
Results That Speak for Themselves
20–25 minutes → minutes: Incident investigations now take a fraction of the time.
15 → 30 days retention: Twice the storage, no extra maintenance.
109 cameras: Near-total visibility across the expanded campus.
15–20 minutes/day saved: IT no longer monitors DVRs.
Zero complaints: Staff adoption seamless via web access and SSO.
“It’s probably one of the best investments the school has made — saves time, adds coverage, and keeps getting better with software updates,” says Haroon.
Looking Ahead
Willowfield continues to explore new ways Verkada can enhance safety and convenience. They plan to trial more AI-powered analytics as they evolve.
“For Willowfield, Verkada isn’t just a security upgrade — it’s become part of the school’s daily rhythm, quietly supporting teachers and students alike,” says Mike. “You’re paying for a top-end product, but what you get back in time and peace of mind is invaluable. It’s a system that works with you, not against you.”