Case Studies

Making Microsoft 365 Easy to Navigate for Staff and Students | King’s Ely

Independent schools often have access to a wide range of digital tools, but without clear structure those tools can become difficult to navigate and inconsistent in everyday use.

At King’s Ely, leaders wanted to make it easier for staff and students to access class teams, learning materials and collaboration spaces within Microsoft 365. Working with Cloud Design Box, the school implemented a structured Microsoft Teams and SharePoint environment that brings these elements together in one place.

By organising the school’s digital spaces more clearly, King’s Ely has made it significantly easier for staff and students to find what they need, while encouraging greater collaboration and more consistent use of Microsoft 365 across the school.

About the Organisation

King’s Ely is one of the oldest schools in the world, with a history that stretches back over a thousand years. Today it is a thriving independent school providing education from nursery through to sixth form.

The school has long recognised the importance of digital tools in supporting modern teaching and learning. Microsoft 365 plays a central role in that strategy, enabling staff and students to collaborate using tools such as Microsoft Teams, OneNote and SharePoint.

As the school’s use of these platforms expanded, leaders began to look more closely at how their digital environment was structured. Ensuring that staff and students could navigate quickly to the right class teams, resources and collaboration spaces became an important priority.

"Thanks to Cloud Design Box, we’re only two clicks away to get to our Class Teams and Notebooks."

-Mark Hawes, Director of ICT Systems, King’s Ely

Challenges

Like many schools adopting Microsoft 365, King’s Ely already had powerful tools available for collaboration and digital learning. However, as the number of teams, resources and shared spaces grew, navigating the environment became more complex.

Teachers needed a clearer way to organise learning materials and share resources with colleagues. Without consistent structure, valuable content could be difficult to locate and reuse across departments.

Leaders also recognised that ease of access was critical to adoption. If staff and students cannot quickly find the spaces and materials they need, the full potential of the platform is rarely realised.

As Mark Hawes explains, usability and clarity were key considerations:

“The biggest improvement has been how quickly staff and students can find what they need. Everything is organised in one place.”

Solution

Working with Cloud Design Box, King’s Ely introduced a structured Microsoft Teams and SharePoint environment designed specifically for the needs of schools.

The platform provides a central hub where staff and students can easily navigate to their class teams, shared resources and collaboration spaces. By organising these areas consistently, the school has made it much easier to access digital learning materials without unnecessary searching.

Teachers can now share resources more effectively across departments, helping to reduce duplication and support collaboration between colleagues.

“It’s much easier now for teachers to share resources with each other across departments.”

At the same time, students can quickly locate their class teams and notebooks, ensuring that assignments, materials and discussions are always easy to access.

The Future

With a structured Microsoft 365 environment now in place, King’s Ely has established a strong foundation for continued digital innovation.

The platform supports collaboration between staff, simplifies access to teaching resources and ensures that students can quickly find the materials they need to support their learning.

Just as importantly, the clearer structure makes it easier for the school to build on its existing digital strategy as new tools and capabilities emerge within Microsoft 365.

As Mark Hawes notes:

“Having everything structured properly makes it much easier for people to actually use the tools.”

By focusing on structure as well as technology, King’s Ely has created a digital environment that supports both teaching and learning today while remaining flexible enough to evolve in the future.