HospitaliP expands across Oxfordshire to help children keep learning during hospital treatment

Developed by Derventio Education with hospital teaching teams, the platform supports lesson coordination, safeguarding and pupil information across wards, families and home schools

Stuart Reece says HospitaliP was developed around the operational requirements of hospital education teams.

Children undergoing hospital treatment across Oxfordshire will be supported by HospitaliP as Derventio Education rolls its specialist EdTech platform out across the county’s hospital education services.

The system is designed around the work required to maintain a child’s education when serious illness interrupts their schooling. Hospital teaching teams may work across wards while coordinating with clinicians, families and pupils’ home schools, all while managing safeguarding and reporting responsibilities.

HospitaliP gives those teams a dedicated platform for securely managing pupil information, coordinating learning and maintaining continuity throughout a child’s treatment.

“Hospital schools operate in an environment unlike any other, yet for years they've had to adapt systems that were never designed for the way they work,” says Stuart Reece, Managing Director of Derby-based Derventio Education.

“We developed HospitaliP by listening to hospital educators and understanding their day-to-day challenges,” he adds. “The aim has always been simple: reduce administration, improve communication and give staff more time to focus on supporting children.”

Built with hospital educators

Derventio developed HospitaliP alongside professionals delivering education in healthcare settings, including teams in Oxford and at Great Ormond Street Hospital, where the system is already in use.

That collaboration has shaped a platform around the realities of teaching children during hospital stays, from sharing information securely to keeping multiple people and institutions connected around each pupil’s education.

The Oxfordshire rollout marks the latest expansion for HospitaliP and extends Derventio’s work beyond the mainstream school environments served by its existing technology.

HospitaliP builds on SchooliP, the company’s school improvement platform, which Derventio says is used by hundreds of schools in the UK and overseas. Its wider cloud-based technology covers performance management, compliance and reporting, self-evaluation and collaboration across educational institutions.

Taking hospital education needs to government

The company has also held discussions with the UK Department for Education about the operational, safeguarding and reporting requirements faced by hospital schools.

“It was encouraging to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing hospital education with the Department for Education,” Reece explains. “Hospital schools have unique requirements, and technology should reflect that.”

For Derventio, the purpose of that technology remains firmly rooted in the children whose education continues alongside their medical care.

“Every child deserves continuity in their education, regardless of their medical circumstances,” Reece says. “If we can help hospital educators spend less time working around technology and more time supporting children, then we've achieved exactly what we set out to do.”