conversion to academy ict checklist.

[round2it]

Hi all just been told that we ar to become an academy

 

I know lots of you have been through this process and was wondering if you would like to share your experiences of the ict infastructure changes I will have to make and any gotchas that I may find.

 

any advice at this point will be fantastic as all I can see is a spinning wheel in front of my eyes with all the changes I need to make.

 

thanks in advance

[elsiegee40]

Is your school becoming part of an existing MAT? If so, you need to be talking to other NMs in that trust.

[round2it]

We are but they are primary schools and they are more than likely supported by a 3rd party.

 

quite worried about this maybe its tine to look for another job.

Edited February 12, 2016 by round2it

[elsiegee40]

You still need to find out the trust strategy and who is where. Particularly if you fear for your job.

 

The trust strategy will be what's important here though

[FN-GM]

We are but they are primary schools and they are more than likely supported by a 3rd party.

 

quite worried about this maybe its tine to look for another job.

 

From what i have seen you shouldn't worry. You could even see this as a way to secure your job more. Why not take on the support for the primary schools?

 

There is no hard fast answer as each setup is different, thats the idea of an Academy.

[round2it]

I will be writing a report for the head of everything that needs changing over half term.

 

 

 

new domain name for website

email

o365 etc.

 

internally not that much to do when I think about it.

 

licenceing is the issue ees licences etc

[FN-GM]

SIMS will be an issue with licences! I have found most other companies don't care!

[pete]

^ A few companies will want the new info for license novation, but most just want to ensure your contact details are correct. I sent all my supplier contacts an email with:

 

Hello,

 

We (Schoolname, Town, Postcode) have either bought, goods, services or licensed software from you within the last ~5 years.

 

This is a notice to inform you that:

 

From AcademyStartDate, we hope to become an academy operating as a limited company with charity status. For the purposes of legislation, funding and eligibility for educational discounts/purchasing schemes we are still a school in the eyes of the DfE.

 

Our address and contact details will remain the same. After AcademyStartDate there will be an academy answering to SchoolName at the same premises, email addresses and phone number.

 

We do not yet have our company number, nor official confirmation of our registered name.

 

Should you require any forms to be filled out for transfer of licenses or credit accounts or other agreements, consider this a gentle nudge to let us know what those might be.

 

Regards

 

MyName

[round2it]

Sims is going to be the killer

[Sylv3r]

Licences was the only real change for us here. We also moved away from FMS to Sage as we felt it met the needs of our new start of academy life better.

 

It is also more likely that you will need to ensure that you have relevant policies in place if you don't already have them in place for disaster recovery, data protection etc to satisfy more stringent auditor requirements.

 

Your financial year will also change from 1st April - 31st March, this may have implications if you currently pay SLA's etc from a cash flow prospective. Also any leases need to be Operational Leases, not sure if theres anyway to change once already signed up though.

[robjduk]

When we changed we were advised to write to all the companies we have purchased software from and seek proof they were happy for us to transfer ownership as technically its a new company . Tedious task but they were all fine with it although our name didnt really change. An entire rebrand may be an issue but good luck.

[round2it]

goof info guys

 

thanks

[nathan]

agh, don't get me starting on conversion costs for Sims...