Student Companion App - Web & Mobile App
St Andrews College Language Schools approached us for a digital transformation project — designed to replace paper-based processes with a modern companion app, giving their students, group leaders and staff everything they need in one place.
The Background:
St Andrews College Language Schools (STACLS) approached Bad Dinosaur to help drive their digital transformation in how they communicate and coordinate with students across all of their campuses. At the time, huge amounts of paper were still being used to share the information students and group leaders needed day to day, including timetables, campus maps, excursion itineraries, and school guidelines.
Paper reduction was just one motivation for going digital. STACLS also wanted to elevate the quality of the overall student experience; to create genuine buzz around activities and excursions, and to give group leaders the tools to manage their responsibilities more efficiently. The school serves a diverse and international student body, with learners as young as 11 arriving alongside their group leaders, and a staff team coordinating everything behind the scenes. Any solution needed to work brilliantly for all three of those audiences at once.
The App:
Through collaborative co-design with the STACLS team, we have developed the STACLS Companion App. The web based platform delivers a frictionless, paperless experience for students, group leaders and staff alike. Onboarding is simple with a single QR code scan connecting a user to their campus, and from there everything they need is right in front of them.
Students can browse their activity programme, read up on/listen to upcoming excursion information with maps and meeting point information, and can contribute to a review feed to share highlights and feedback from their time at the school. Group leaders get their own protected space to handle the admin side of their role, including submitting absence reports and accommodation issues directly through the app, with email notifications going straight to admin.
From the admin area of the platform, STACLS staff can maintain oversight of issues raised by group leaders and the status of them being resolved via their own dedicated dashboard. This ensures that any major issues (ie, accommodation issues etc) can be resolved quickly and with accountability.
The Future:
STACLS have ambitions to refine the app further for the summer 2026 student intake. This includes extensive offline functionality to give students an optimised experience in even the most remote locations. The app will also be available to download on the app stores - expanding the technology from web app to native mobile too.
A Word From Our Team
Laureline Vaucoy, Senior Developer
"Working on the STACLS project has been a clear example of how something that begins as a simple MVP can quickly grow into something much larger and more impactful. It started with a focused scope, but as adoption grew to thousands of users, the priorities shifted towards performance, reliability, and scale.
One of the most interesting parts has been seeing it continue to evolve, especially with the move from a web app to a mobile experience and the introduction of offline support. It's a good illustration of a product that keeps expanding, where the real challenge is making sure it stays fast, accessible, and genuinely useful as more and more students and staff rely on it."
Working with Bad Dinosaur on the STACLS Companion App has improved how we share information and support students and group leaders, while reducing our reliance on paper. Bad Dinosaur took the time to understand the complexity of our environment and worked closely with us to build a solution that delivers practical benefits for users across the whole summer school experience. We’re particularly excited about the move to a mobile version this year and remain committed to developing the app as a practical, user-focused tool to enhance our students’ experience!
Fraser Hutchison, Director of Operations: Scotland & USA, St Andrews College Language Schools Ltd
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