Why a 2,800-Student School Replaced Its SIS

Barker College, a pre-K–12 co-educational independent school of around 2,800 students near Sydney, replaced an unreliable SIS with Veracross. Tasks that took five to eight minutes now take thirty seconds, and the single-record system lets staff trace each student's full journey. Why did Barker College replace its previous SIS? The old system had linear processes, slow performance, and unreliable communications. Staff often saw what they called the spinning wheel of death; messages sometimes failed to send or went to the wrong families. After a lengthy remediation attempt with external consultants, the school concluded the product could not be sustained. How did Barker decide on Veracross? Barker leveraged its community and heard about Veracross from another school. The Veracross team invested heavily in understanding Barker's culture and processes, leading to rich "why" conversations rather than a feature checklist. What made Veracross compelling for Barker? Three things: speed, stability of the data set, and a clear understanding of what schools and their people are trying to do every day. Testing showed the system was quick, responsive, and adaptable. How much faster are everyday tasks in Veracross? Sending a confirmed place offer to a new student previously took five to eight minutes. In Veracross it takes thirty seconds. What changed for parents and staff after the switch? Parents get more transparent access to information and can use the parent app to notify school of absences. Staff can move straight from a query to a communication, drilling down to very specific data without spreadsheets. LinkedIn Caption Barker College staff had a name for their old SIS: the spinning wheel of death. Messages didn't send. The same note went to multiple families. Frustration was so widespread the school worried it would become untenable. After switching to Veracross, a confirmed place offer that used to take five to eight minutes now takes thirty seconds. The leadership team uses the word "transformative" cautiously, not as hyperbole. The lived experience for staff has been dramatically improved. #IndependentSchoolSoftware #SIS #Veracross #SchoolData #EdTech