DfE Standards Updated To Include IT Support Standards For Schools

[mdrabble]

What constitutes outdated switches? (apart from EOL Switches and no firmware updates)

 

Switches which are x years old which still have updated firmware being released

Switches which are not EOL and not had firmware updates for x number of years

 

 

[mridgway]

28 minutes ago, JazzFlute said:

Anyone got an automatic failover line and router with Schools broadband?

 

Yes, we have. Difficulty is that most faults tend to be with their centralised filtering/firewall rather than the actual line itself.

[Ditto]

2 hours ago, Space_Munkey said:

Our IT Governor said that the standards aren't statutory after I recently pushed to refresh our server estate due to expiring warranties and that specifically being mentioned in the standards...  👀

Not sure I've known of an IT Governor before! So, given you have one, the role should be purely strategic, so if the strategy is to stay on old kit and increase risk of IT infrastructure collapse, then all's well.

[DrCheese]

44 minutes ago, JazzFlute said:

Anyone got an automatic failover line and router with Schools broadband?

 

Primary is with Schools Broadband, backup is via another vendor (& totally seperate infrastructure)

Both lines are in use the whole time, as Smoothwall lets you keep both active in an LLB pool.

 

Backup line is 1gb.

Edited January 27 by DrCheese

[JazzFlute]

21 minutes ago, mridgway said:

 

Yes, we have. Difficulty is that most faults tend to be with their centralised filtering/firewall rather than the actual line itself.

This is what i thought as most if not all downtime i experience is with Netsweeper and related firewall issues rather than the line so I'm thinking what's the point having a failover line with them as i presume this will be affected too.

[DavR]

15 minutes ago, JazzFlute said:

This is what i thought as most if not all downtime i experience is with Netsweeper and related firewall issues rather than the line so I'm thinking what's the point having a failover line with them as i presume this will be affected too.

 

I guess if your filtering solution is cloud based, then to be a truly redundant line, then the second connection should be a second supplier, a second cable route and a second filtering solution.

 

I wonder if just a second line to the same ISP is permissible. I asked our guys a few years back, and the best they could offer was a satellite backup link to the same core network, which would add 25% to our Internet bill. 

[msi_school]

I have a school that is going through the new build process and the representatives for the DfE told me that they do not specify backup broadband connections on school buildings despite the fact they recommend them to the schools. 

 

To be fair they did at least look embarrassed when they said this.

[synaesthesia]

Does anyone do anything fancy with their VOIP for backup failover? From what I understand it's a manual process of getting your supplier to switch the IP which takes time in itself.

[JazzFlute]

16 hours ago, DavR said:

 

I guess if your filtering solution is cloud based, then to be a truly redundant line, then the second connection should be a second supplier, a second cable route and a second filtering solution.

 

I wonder if just a second line to the same ISP is permissible. I asked our guys a few years back, and the best they could offer was a satellite backup link to the same core network, which would add 25% to our Internet bill. 

 

Yeah I'll have to look around as I'm trying to achieve an automatic failover without human interaction as when I'm not in school rather than pay for one and then have to come in to plug stuff in etc. or do anything remotely.  Cant see it going down well if main line fails and I'm not in to "plug" or "configure" something when we pay x amount of money extra a year for the 2nd line.

 

Have main school voip phones covered with a 5g Dongle to connect to along with a couple of laptops for office staff which will keep the school running fine in case of an emergency, its just the normal running of the school that will be down so as long as classes have some chalk and a blackboard think they'll be fine 👍

[JazzFlute]

6 minutes ago, synaesthesia said:

Does anyone do anything fancy with their VOIP for backup failover? From what I understand it's a manual process of getting your supplier to switch the IP which takes time in itself.

 

Not got a solution for the whole VoIP system but we have android VoIP phones in main reception which have Wi-Fi so i connect these to a 5G iPad i have solely used for this purpose and always kept in the same room and always charged and showed reception staff what to do which is pretty simple.

[jmak]

On 27/01/2026 at 12:26, Space_Munkey said:

Our IT Governor said that the standards aren't statutory after I recently pushed to refresh our server estate due to expiring warranties and that specifically being mentioned in the standards...  👀

The Cyber Resilience Bill will become an Act of Parliament before the summer holidays this year. It mandates cyber security standards for all public bodies, which will include schools. The Cyber Assessment Framework specifies the standards. Clearly some (almost all?) public bodies will be unable to meet the standard by the summer, so there's bound to be a "working towards" period, but your governors will need to ensure the school complies with the law. 

 

Saying that you don't need to comply because it's not statutory is a slightly unusual stance for a governor to take.

 

 

[DrCheese]

I hadn't heard about the Cyber Resillience bill - Is there any more info there aimed at a school audience?

 

I'm fortunate that my management have always let me do stuff to comply with DFE regs but I know others struggle so if there's anything it's helpful

[DrCheese]

10 hours ago, synaesthesia said:

Does anyone do anything fancy with their VOIP for backup failover? From what I understand it's a manual process of getting your supplier to switch the IP which takes time in itself.

 

Yeah... this is one thing we have to do manually in a failover - We self host 3cx & I had to have our SIP trunk provider approve both the main/backup IPs. In the event of a failure we have to change a SNAT rule on smoothwall & change the IP on 3cx.

 

Not a headache, but still.

 

[JRA]

15 hours ago, DrCheese said:

I hadn't heard about the Cyber Resillience bill - Is there any more info there aimed at a school audience?

 

I'm fortunate that my management have always let me do stuff to comply with DFE regs but I know others struggle so if there's anything it's helpful

 

Same here! This one crept up on me!

 

If there's any info especially for us in schools out there anyone's seen do post that up. Having a dig atm/when I get a sec.

[mthomas08]

On 26/01/2026 at 10:24, Jobos said:

 

We are a primary and had them in last week and they didn't ask me anything and the HT said they didn't ask any IT questions to him either.

 

They didn't ask us either, instead they went via Safeguarding (DSL) and she had to answer everything regarding the internet filtering. We had to spend some time together for her to understand everything.

 

I can't speak for a Primary but we've had multiple Ofsted visits and experts evaluate us (after failing 1st time quite badly) and it was the DSL having to answer them.

 

Boils down to making sure the DSL understands it all and how it safeguards the kids.

Edited January 29 by mthomas08

[jmak]

6 hours ago, JRA said:

 

Same here! This one crept up on me!

 

If there's any info especially for us in schools out there anyone's seen do post that up. Having a dig atm/when I get a sec.

https://www.linkict.co.uk/news/what-the-uks-new-cyber-security-and-resilience-bill-means-for-your-school-or-sme/

[pete]

The "Plan technology for your school" site looks like a worse copy/paste of all the other sites out there.

 

And re Ofsted - they've been asking for a while (a couple of ours were inspected recently). 

 

The whole of SLT and the safeguarding teams at all our schools have a two-pager that states clearly in SLT-friendly language how the technical side of safeguarding works trust-wide and any specifics on a per-school basis (primary vs secondary vs nursery).

 

They are not to ad-lib or deviate from the two-pager or they'll look like muppets when Ofsted cross-check it with my lot.

[DrBeaker]

On 29/01/2026 at 15:19, mthomas08 said:

 

They didn't ask us either, instead they went via Safeguarding (DSL) and she had to answer everything regarding the internet filtering. We had to spend some time together for her to understand everything.

 

I can't speak for a Primary but we've had multiple Ofsted visits and experts evaluate us (after failing 1st time quite badly) and it was the DSL having to answer them.

 

Boils down to making sure the DSL understands it all and how it safeguards the kids.

 

SLT get RESPONSIBILITY payments for it, IT don't. 

 

[MatthewL]

On 28/01/2026 at 08:14, synaesthesia said:

Does anyone do anything fancy with their VOIP for backup failover? From what I understand it's a manual process of getting your supplier to switch the IP which takes time in itself.

 

I know with Andrews & Arnold on your SIP settings you can get it to ring another number i.e. a mobile if there is an issue/after a certain time period as I have just added it to a trunk my friend uses incase it goes down they get the calls.  Could be worth investigating obviously it would cost the call but that could be help.  Not sure what you mean about switching IP do you mean for a backup connection, any good provider surely could have both IP's listed then its seemless?