The Department for Education has made another round of amendments to its Meeting digital and technology standards in schools and colleges manual, with the latest changes published on 25 August. Taken together, this year's updates focus on three areas: generative AI in filtering and monitoring, the new Cyber Essentials 2026 requirements, and Wi-Fi 7. They are worth working through before the first safeguarding and IT review of term.

What has changed in 2026

• Generative AI and filtering (25 August and 10 June). The filtering and monitoring core standard now directs schools to the DfE's Generative AI: product safety standards whenever they introduce a specific AI product. Your annual review should now cover where AI tools are used across web and in-app products, and whether your filtering and monitoring solution can actually handle real-time, dynamic, personalised and AI-generated content. Rolling out a new generative AI tool is also listed as a trigger for reviewing provision outside the annual cycle.
• Cyber Essentials 2026 (24 June). The cyber security core standard has been revised to reflect the new technical requirements the NCSC introduced in Cyber Essentials 2026. If you hold or are working towards certification, compare your current controls against the updated requirements.
• Wi-Fi 7 (17 April). The wireless network standard now includes Wi-Fi 7 requirements. Importantly, the DfE clarifies that schools only need to upgrade when their existing wireless network no longer meets their needs, so this is not a mandated refresh.
• Security updates (7 April). The cyber security standard now makes clear that fixing a vulnerability can involve changes beyond applying a software patch, which is relevant to how you evidence remediation.
• Report Fraud (12 February). References to Action Fraud have been updated to its new name, Report Fraud. Check your incident response plans and staff guidance still point to the right place.
• Filtering clarifications (January and February). The DfE added further detail on filtering solutions to the technical requirements and clarified timing: schools and colleges should already be meeting the filtering and monitoring standard now.

Worth rechecking this term

The filtering and monitoring standard is one of six core standards, and the DfE expects all six to be met by 2030. The current text is explicit on several points IT teams should verify: IWF and CTIRU blocklists must be in place and must not be possible to disable or override by anyone, including system administrators at school, trust or local authority level; any temporary filtering exceptions must be approved and documented by the responsible SLT member; and monitoring plans should include weekly incident reports, immediate alerts for high-risk incidents, and a documented process for recording what action was taken.

Source: Department for Education · Read the update

(NOTE: This has been abbreviated by AI so double check things)

In this article, we discuss how to get a handle on the problem that compromised passwords present to educational establishments, how to easily identify them in Active Directory (AD) alongside additional password vulnerabilities, and how to future-proof your password security with continuous compromised password scanning.

The compromised password problem

The education sector is becoming an increasingly attractive target for cyberattacks. This year the UK government reported that breaches for educational institutions were significantly higher than the average UK business.

Research from Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) 2023 found that 44.7% of data breaches involve the use of stolen credentials. These credentials, exposed in previous data breaches, phishing attacks, or weak password practices, are considered low-hanging fruit by malicious actors to gain unauthorized access to networks.

Unauthorized access to student and staff data, financial records, and other confidential information can lead to identity theft, fraud, and reputational damage. Moreover, compromised passwords can also result in disruptions to teaching and learning activities, as well as potential violations of regulatory compliance requirements, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Unfortunately, many educational institutions lack the robust password management policies or tools that help protect their networks from these types of attacks. To mitigate these risks, it is crucial to conduct regular audits of AD accounts, identify password-related vulnerabilities, and any compromised passwords that may be lurking within systems.

Regular password audits help proactively detect and address compromised passwords, ensuring the security and integrity of data. By implementing strong password policies, and educating users about password best practices, the education sector can enhance its cybersecurity posture and mitigate the risk of emerging threats.

Finding Compromised Passwords in Active Directory

There are numerous methods, freely available, for identifying whether compromised passwords are in use within Active Directory. The most widely known, Troy Hunt’s HaveIBeenPwned (HIBP) database consists of over 847M+ (December 2021) compromised password hashes that can be checked against using an API, and the NCSC’s Top100k list (based on the HIBP list) via PowerShell. Database size, frequency of updates, resources required for configuration, and streamlined reporting capabilities are of critical importance when performing an extensive audit to gain situational awareness and posture for remediation. For this, a purpose-built tool is the way forward.

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Specops Password Auditor is a powerful free software tool, built specifically to assist you in the auditing process by providing valuable insights into the state of your user passwords, and other potential vulnerabilities within your AD environment.

Widely used in the UK education sector, Password Auditor incorporates multiple leaked lists (including the HIBP database) as well as passwords collected via honeypot networks in recent attacks. Today, consisting of over 950 million compromised passwords, the tool provides a complete overview of your password vulnerabilities in an interactive dashboard with additional functionality for checking your password policies against industry standards. The tool also includes export capabilities in CSV or executive-level PDF summary.

Operating in read-only mode, ensuring no modifications are made to Active Directory. Specops Password Auditor does not transmit any data externally, meaning you can comfortably run it on a computer without an internet connection. Additionally, there are no advertisements, or any other bothersome elements typically encountered in freeware.

How to run an audit using Specops Password Auditor

Step 1: Download and install Specops Password Auditor.

Sign up for your free copy of Specops Password Auditor here for free. Once downloaded, run the installer and follow the on-screen instructions to install the application on your domain-joined workstation or server.

 

Specops Password Auditor: Initial Screen

Step 2: Launch Specops Password Auditor

After installation, launch the Specops Password Auditor application on your workstation or server. You can run it either as a regular user or as a domain admin if you would like to use the advanced reports for compromised, identical and blank passwords.

Step 3: Configure Specops Password Auditor

Upon launching the application, use the free activation key you received via the download confirmation email and connect to your Active Directory. If this is the first time you’ve run Specops Password Auditor you will be prompted to select a download directory for the breached password database, make sure you have at least 6.2GB of local disk space.

Step 4: Run the Audit

Initiate the audit by clicking ‘Start Scanning’. The application will analyse the user passwords and password policy settings in your Active Directory and quickly generate a comprehensive report.

Specops Password Auditor: Results dashboard

 



 

Specops Password Auditor: Password Policy Compliance

Step 5: Review the Audit Results

Once the audit is complete, review the generated report. Specops Password Auditor provides insights into compromised passwords, identical passwords, blank passwords, as well as account-related vulnerabilities like stale admin and user accounts. Analyse the results to identify weak points in your password security.

Step 6: Take Action

Based on the audit results, take appropriate action to address any vulnerabilities identified. This may include requesting users to change compromised or identical passwords, enforcing stronger password policies, or implementing additional security measures.

Step 7: Generate Reports (Optional)

Specops Password Auditor allows you to generate detailed reports in various formats, such as CSV or PDF. These reports can be useful for further analysis or for presenting the audit findings to the relevant stakeholders.

By following these clear steps and running regular audits with Specops Password Auditor, you can proactively identify and address password vulnerabilities within your Active Directory.

For a more in-depth guide to installing Specops Password Auditor, you can refer to the impact of running Specops Password Auditor on Active Directory or the support page.

Future-proofing password security

Auditing passwords in your organisation is a great first step to uncovering areas of potential compromise to remedy, but it doesn’t prevent the issue from reoccurring again in the future.

Microsoft cites 4,000 password attacks happen every second. Regardless of user awareness around password security, relying solely on users to create secure passwords puts an unnecessary and unrealistic burden on them. Instead, technical controls need to be put in place to ensure that a user-friendly process is offered in setting both strong passwords (such as passphrases) and passwords not already compromised from the outset.

Specops Password Policy enables users to do just this, placing the burden on authentication systems with dynamic, informative client feedback throughout. With an option of continuous compromised password protection against a database exceeding 4 billion and updated daily, you can rest easy by going way beyond point-in-time audits. The solution offers a more comprehensive defence against the threats of password attacks and the risk of password reuse. If you’re interested in seeing how this might work for you request a free trial or demo of Specops Password Policy today.

To conclude, a concerning mindset observed is that passwords can be overlooked when additional methods of authentication are in use. A multi-factor authentication (MFA) approach is certainly advised wherever possible, but it is of critical importance to know, MFA isn’t bulletproof – no single layer of security is.

Adding MFA does not remove the need to protect the password, and protecting the password does not remove the need to add MFA.

If you would like to get in touch to learn more about how Specops Software supports the UK educational sector and public sector, contact us here and we’ll be happy to help.

Our last IT for Education Salary Survey, coincided with the very start of the Pandemic.

Since then we’ve experienced:

• Big shift across IT to hybrid or remote working.
  
• An accelerated move to cloud based tech both in schools and industry.
  
• “The Great Resignation”.
  
• A big over demand for IT staff.
  
• An increasing upwards pressure on salaries and more flexible conditions.
  

Help us to help you understand where you now stand against your peers. See where salaries of IT staff have moved to or even what packages you need to offer to recruit great staff!

Put 5 mins aside, grab a tea, and head to https://www.esp-recruit.co.uk/ITsalarysurvey/

£100 amazon vouchers to a randomly selected participant.

Every share or comment on our Socials and £1 goes to charity (up to £200)

#ukitedsalarysurvey

@williamesp

https://www.linkedin.com/company/education-support-professionals-ltd

Here is your chance to get your voice heard to the Department for Education.

IFF Research, an independent research company, are conducting a 'Technology in Schools Survey (TiSS)' on behalf of the DfE. This is an important study, which aims to collect a snapshot of technology use and suitability within the school sector in England.

If you are an IT professional working for a primary or secondary school in England, please answer this survey on behalf of your school. If you work on behalf of multiple schools, we will ask you to respond according to which one you consider to be your main school. For example, the one you spend most time working for. The survey asks questions about school connectivity, cyber security, servers, storage and back office systems, hardware, software, and technology support and governance.

It should take you about 15-20 mins to complete and your feedback is very important if you want the DfE to be aware of the current state of IT in your schools.

Please be reassured that your individual responses are strictly confidential and kept according to GDPR guidelines, please see the attached privacy policy at the bottom of this article.

If you have any queries about the survey, please contact the IFF team at edtech@iffresearch.com. Alternatively, if you would like to confirm the validity of the survey, please contact the DfE project manager, Edtech.RESEARCH@education.gov.uk. We very much hope you will be able to contribute to the research.

Please note that this survey is for schools in England only as its being performed by the Department for Education England.

Survey Link: Click here

We have also attached the privacy notice for this survey below.

TiSS Privacy Notice.pdf

We specialise in digital admissions and are currently working with over 600 UK schools. We also have products that digitally manage bursaries and also for the application and results of the 11+ grammar exam.

Our core product, Admissions+, is easy to use, fully customisable and can be branded to each school so that it looks like a continuation of the school’s website.

Parents log on and complete all their admissions data online.

Schools receive clean, accurate, typed data which is then transferred into the school MIS with a few clicks! We have full technical integration with the market-leading MISs including Arbor, Bromcom, iSAMS, SIMS and Cloud-School.

We encourage feedback from all the schools that we work with and our platforms all have ‘Idea’ buttons built into them so that users can easily make suggestions. Because we encourage this, we receive a significant number of suggestions and many of the ideas have now been baked into our products, here are some recent examples.

Digital Signatures

Schools sometimes need to collect legally binding parental signatures and our platforms now enable schools to collect digital signatures online.

Manage Duplicates with Ease

Sometimes parents and students create more than one profile. This update helps by detecting potential duplicate profiles. You will then be able to merge the two profiles, keeping all data and the progress activity of the most up-to-date profile.

Two-factor Authentication

Security is always key and we have now released two-factor authentication. When logging in to Admissions+, you will need to enter a code that has been sent to your email address, phone number, or authenticator application.

Open Day Management

It’s no surprise that as a school you want to invest heavily in marketing and promoting your Open Evenings. Instinctively, you know that families who visit are more likely to register for a place.

Do you have the answers to these questions at your fingertips?

• What percentage of students who attended an Open Evening then completed an application?
• How many converted into enrolled students?
• Did you have students that enrolled despite not attending an Open Evening?
• Did these students stay throughout the Sixth Form?
• How good was the school’s follow-up after the event?
• What about those that registered but were unable to attend?

With Admissions+, you can manage all of your school’s Open Evening needs with ease. Simply add a booking link to the school’s website and social media channels and in your emails to parents. Parents click the link; complete a short online booking form and you collect the numbers!

You know who to expect and you can even set a maximum number of attendees.

As the event approaches, it’s easy to keep registered parents informed and you can set reminders for parents 1 week or, 1 day before the event. On the day, you can easily keep a register of who has attended, and follow-up after the event is a breeze with our sophisticated communications functions.

Year 12 Enrolment Day Management

Once your prospective students have completed their GCSE’s and obtained their results, you can have a really smooth enrolment day process using our comprehensive enrolment day functionality.

Students upload their GCSE certificates online and start the enrolment process. Staff at the school can see the status of each student live on the system as they go through the process. This includes stages for ‘Details to be Checked’, ‘Ready to Enrol’ and ‘Enrolled’. Once students are enrolled and selected their courses, their timetables are built automatically saving significant amounts of time.

What do Our Customer Schools Say on Enrolment?

• ‘It was a very efficient process and was seamless once we had training and had processed a few calls’. Hammersmith Academy
• ‘Overall it was smooth and efficient, an improvement on the old way’. Eastbury Community School
• ‘A super quick and easy process. Feeling ready to enrol our new Y12s’ Sir Isaac Newton Sixth Form
• ‘A very easy process’ Norlington School
• ‘No messing, just hand on deck. Well-structured and straight to the point’. Broadway Academy
• ‘It was very simple to fill in and took no time’ Lea Valley Academy
• ‘We could book enrolment interviews through the system and filter information for data analysis and send lists. We could download information in excel format’. Royal Greenwich Trust School

If you don’t use Applicaa products yet, maybe you will explore more and become a customer of ours, then you too can feed into the continual evolution of our cloud-based products for schools.

To learn more about Applicaa, please visit www.applicaa.com

Children are online more than ever before. For many, technology and the internet are part of everyday life at home – and in terms of education, digitally-led education has taken on increased significance, with schools having no option but to take learning online over the pandemic lockdowns of the last 18 months. With all this online activity comes the need to stay safe. A young person’s online world may consist of social, chat forums, online games, websites and more, all of which can be accessed via laptops, mobile phones and tablets. This makes them incredibly accessible, 24/7, and means that online risks are ever-present.

New Online Safety Guide

As part of Safer Internet Day, and to help provide more information for schools, students and parents, we’ve updated our Online Safety Guide for 2022. It includes valuable information about all kinds of online risks from grooming, cyberbullying and radicalisation, to sexting and more. It’s a great way to help schools stay current and support online safety CPD, as well as help parents understand how they can play their part.

View the FREE guide at https://www.netsupportsoftware.com/online-safety-guide/

Online Safety edition of the ‘Check it out!’ show

On the 8th February, the ‘Check it out!’ show will focus on online safety services and solutions, helping schools to find tools to help safeguard their students. There will also be guest appearances from schools and teachers themselves to highlight the activities they are doing in class to support Safer Internet Day. For BESA members wanting to take part in future ‘Check it out’ shows, please visit:

Watch it live here: https://www.netsupportsoftware.com/showcase/

Online Safety panel discussion

Watch back our online safety panel discussion as the experts review the latest trends and challenges, and look at how schools can help mitigate the risks.

Watch back the discussion at https://www.netsupportsoftware.com/safeguarding-panel/

The second issue of R.I.S.E. Magazine is now available!

Welcome to the New Year! We’re excited to announce that we’re starting this year off with our second issue of R.I.S.E. Magazine and we hope you check it out today!

This quarterly magazine addresses key topics and challenges in education through the help of many amazing authors and contributors. Readers can find informative articles and helpful resources, as well as insightful interviews, tips and reviews. While each issue covers a wide range of topics, here are some common themes you may find:

• Social media, online learning and EdTech

• Inclusion

• CPD

• Language and oracy

• Reading and writing

Want to be included in an upcoming issue? Click here to complete the submission form for a chance to be featured.

Read R.I.S.E. Magazine now https://www.netsupportsoftware.com/rise-magazine/

For those who listened to last night's

, you may have heard Al and Mark mention the Cyber On A Shoestring online event that Derbyshire CC/Education Data Hub are running on the 7th December. I've included all the information below, including a link to the booking page on Eventbrite.

Freely available support for schools and early years settings around cyber security, online safety, and digital safeguarding.

'It’s not the money you spend, it’s the actions you take.'

Cyber security is probably the hottest topic in education right now. Once the realm of science fiction movies, cyber-attacks are, sadly, fast becoming a common news item with schools high up on the list of targets.

Too often, schools fail to take steps to secure and safeguard their settings, but you don’t need a big budget to make a big impact on security.

Join our free online event, dedicated to cyber security, online safety, and digital safeguarding. Created with schools, academies, and nurseries in mind, if you work in the education sector, this event is the ‘must attend’ of 2021.

Featuring speakers from:

The Department for Education

The National Cyber Security Centre

IASME

UK Safer Internet Centre

Regional Organised Crime Units

Police Cyber Resilience Centres

South West Grid for Learning

Crisis24

Education Data Hub

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“A cyber-attack did more damage to our school than floods and a fire combined.” SBM, Derbyshire

“I understand where cyber security sits within our schools and I know what we need to do, but we have a long road ahead and I don’t know where to start.” ICT Technician, West Midlands

“The pandemic meant we were giving out devices, sharing data and connecting anywhere we could to get access. It wasn’t ideal and I know it is a risk, but what else could we do?” Headteacher, Tameside

“As a nursery, we were aware of online safety, but hadn’t really thought about the security of devices we gave to the children, until we started getting inappropriate messages and pop-ups.” Nursery Manager, Sheffield

Places are limited - Please click here to book your place via Eventbrite

To examine the current trends and insights, useful edtech tools/resources and ways to encourage parental engagement, NetSupport has brought together a panel of online safety experts for a lively virtual discussion about the trends and challenges in keeping young people safe online.

Panel members include:

• Mat Round (@RoundMat) - Deputy Head, Pastoral and Designated Safeguarding Lead at St John's College

• Emma Hardy (@EmmaHardyPRand @IWFhotline) - Communications Director at the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF)

• Alan Mackenzie (@esafetyadviser) - Online Safety Specialist - esafety-adviser.com

• Traci Good (@OnlineSafetyHub) - Online Safety Consultant and Founder of i-vengers.org.uk

• Al Kingsley (@AlKingsley_Edu) - Chair of two MATs and CEO of NetSupport

Al Kingsley comments, “Bringing together a range of experts was key to producing an insightful discussion about the real challenges facing schools and parents in protecting young people online. As part of our continued commitment to supporting schools and families, facilitating a conversation about the current trends, useful tools and the experts’ own experiences, will hopefully help schools and parents effectively educate, support and protect young people online - with confidence”.

To watch the discussion, visit https://www.netsupportsoftware.com/safeguarding-panel

NetSupport today announced that its newest solution for classroom management and online safety, classroom.cloud, will now further enhance students' online safety at all times – and, critically, in any location – by including integration with the widely-used communication and collaboration solution, Microsoft Teams.

With many students equipped with their own school learning devices to enable blended and individual learning to occur both inside and outside of school hours via platforms such as Teams, online safety no longer stops at the end of the school day or applies to only certain applications.

Schools can now widen their safeguarding provision by connecting their Microsoft 365 tenancy to classroom.cloud to allow keyword and phrase monitoring of Teams channels and chats. Powered by more than 14,000 phrases across multiple languages, classroom.cloud’s keyword and phrase monitoring tool enables schools to monitor what topics their students are typing or searching for across diverse applications and learning environments – helping to identify, support and protect students engaged in any concerning activity. It also allows schools to share and exchange local terms with other schools and add any new ones to their database to further broaden their eSafety net.

Going beyond highlighting concerning words or phrases, classroom.cloud expands on the context in which these terms are being used (i.e. whether they are accidental, academic or indicative of risk) using contextual intelligence. From looking at the time of day, the device used, the history of similar searches a student has carried out, and whether the search is within a school lesson or in their own time, helps schools determine a false alarm versus a genuine risk.

Linking the accounts couldn’t be any easier (simply sign into the Microsoft 365 account through the classroom.cloud portal and accept the link) and, once linked, the school’s tenancies will be listed, so they can see and edit the details and monitoring settings for each tenancy. For example, schools may wish to exclude selected channels and users from monitoring – such as teachers’ chats – helping to maintain privacy and reduce false positive alerts.

Al Kingsley, CEO of NetSupport, comments, “With this latest integration to classroom.cloud, schools can offer a comprehensive solution to keep students safe while using their school devices online, as well as ensuring that they are fully monitored and protected across a range of applications and environments, including Microsoft Teams.”

“With Microsoft Teams becoming an effective learning environment for students and educators worldwide, online safety is of paramount importance to us,” said Yaron Hezroni, Teams Ecosystem Principal Program Manager at Microsoft. “We are pleased to see NetSupport classroom.cloud's online safety measures integrate with Teams Graph APIs to monitor chat and ensure students are protected at all times.”

About classroom.cloud

Already deployed by schools, Districts and Ministries of Education across the world from the US to the UK, UAE and beyond, classroom.cloud provides award-winning teaching, classroom management and online safety tools – all hosted and protected by Microsoft Azure. From screen sharing and monitoring (all within one environment) to remote control and assessment tools, classroom.cloud makes it easy to lead learning in classrooms and with remote learners. For more information, visit https://classroom.cloud/

NetSupport today announced that its newest solution for classroom management and online safety, classroom.cloud, will now connect to ClassLink (the leader in single sign-on, class rostering and learning resource analytics), to integrate Student Information System (SIS) environments via ClassLink’s Roster Server.

classroom.cloud provides essential cloud-based classroom management, teaching and safeguarding tools to help support teaching in classrooms and with remote learners. It’s the perfect solution to deliver blended learning in any environment.

The collaboration with ClassLink to integrate SIS environments into classroom.cloud via ClassLink’s Roster Server means that schools are now empowered to work even more effectively. Once synced with OneRoster, classroom.cloud teachers can select their school and access their SIS data (lessons and required students) instantly. Not only does this new feature help teachers to save time when setting up their technology-led lessons, but also it offers technicians more flexibility when connecting to student devices.

Al Kingsley, CEO of NetSupport, explains: “Saving teachers time and hassle by making it possible for them to access their lesson details from anywhere in the school makes the task so much easier and means that teaching time is enhanced – not to mention making classroom.cloud even easier to deploy, scale and manage for the IT teams. With integrations already available for Google Classroom and Microsoft School Data Sync, teaming up with ClassLink made perfect sense with their experience and wide range of features to streamline classroom edtech use”.

ClassLink’s VP of Interoperability, Patrick Devanney, comments: “ClassLink and classroom.cloud are a natural fit, we’re both working to improve efficiency for teachers, technicians, and students alike. This partnership further supports ClassLink’s mission to remove barriers to access and return instructional time to the classroom.”

About classroom.cloud

Already deployed by schools, Districts and Ministries of Education across the world from the US to the UK, UAE and beyond, classroom.cloud provides award-winning teaching, classroom management and online safety tools – all hosted and protected by Microsoft Azure. From screen sharing and monitoring (all within one environment) to remote control and assessment tools, classroom.cloud makes it easy to lead learning in classrooms and with remote learners. For more information, visit https://classroom.cloud/

The Department for Education has urged schools to ramp up protection for their systems and data following a new round of targeted ransomware attacks.

Targets for the recent cyber-attacks included all 17 schools in Cambridge Meridian Academies Trust, 15 schools at Nova Education Trust in Nottingham and 24 Schools across South Gloucestershire, including all seven at Castle School Education Trust.

Jon Gilbert, Chief Information Security Officer for the DfE, is now asking UK education establishments to confirm they are taking action to protect their systems and ensure that they have both a backup regime and incident management plan in place.

He wrote: “We have been working closely with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and have been made aware of an increasing number of cyber-attacks involving ransomware infections affecting the education sector recently, notably multi-academy trusts.

“These incidents appear to be financially driven but opportunistic, taking advantage of system weaknesses such as unpatched software, poor authentication systems or the susceptibility of users to misdirection.

“It is important that as heads of multi-academy trusts you understand the nature of the threat and the potential for ransomware to cause considerable damage to your institutions in terms of lost data and access to critical services, as highlighted in the NCSC Alert.”

The increase in attacks comes at a time when schools are being asked to rely heavily on technology, carry out additional reporting and change the nature of examinations.

In the most recent DfE notification, schools are urged to confirm with their IT team or provider that: 

• They are backing up the right data – including Covid-19 testing information, associated data, and data relating to exams alongside other key elements.
  
• Backups are held fully offline and not connected to systems or in cold storage
  
• Tests are carried out to ensure backups and restore services are working and data can be recovered
  

To combat this spike in malicious malware, the NCSC recommends a ‘defence-in-depth’ approach and above all urges organisations to have ‘up-to-date and tested offline backups’.

Data Retention Policies – Considerations / Reasoning

Consider four periods of data retention:

Daily: This captures the data from the very beginning and reduces the risk of loss to a few hours (maximum of one day). Early stage data retention is critical in save guarding from loss of day to day project work.

1. Monthly: This provides an archive of the most recent work and further ensures that any loss of data is minimised.
   
2. Yearly: Good practice, as well as mitigating widescale data loss ie: where a ransomware attack renders substantial amounts of data unusable..
   
3. Long term (3+ years): Provides for instances where historical / analytical information may be useful or required.
   

When setting a data retention policy, consider the following questions:

• Why am I holding this data?
  
• Am I under legal duty to retain the information for a set period of time?' Consider legal duties that impose specific time periods for data retention
  
• Do I need to pass it on? Once I have passed it on, am I required to keep it? Do I still need to use it?
  
• What is the school’s actual responsibility – is appropriate long-term retention actually someone else’s job such as a ‘receiving institution’ or local authority?
  
• What might Ofsted expect from me in terms of the length of time I can perform detailed reporting?
  
• As time goes on, can I delete some of the information – for example would aggregated data (‘counts’ of pupils that you might share with governors) or de-personalised data (individual rows, but with names and other identifiers removed) do the job just as well?
  
• “Because I always have done” is not a justification, but it may be a clue as to a justification. “ Why might we have that policy?” Is a good question to ask.
  

A number of schools have collaborated with sharing thinking on data retention with us in creating this document, and their shared work is provided in Annex 5.1. This is provided to stimulate thinking and discussion at a local level. As data controllers, schools should determine their own policies that work for them and their particular context.

If you have any questions or require further information, please forward them to: schools@mycloudbackup.co.uk

MyCloudBackup is a data backup service. All data is held in our own UK based Data Centres.

It’s no secret that PaperCut loves sysadmins. Working in IT for a highschool is what led our CEO to code some printing software and eventually co-found our company. Many of our support engineers and developers were once sysadmins too.

So our heart has really gone out to all sysadmins during the COVID-19 pandemic. You’ve always been the glue behind the scenes that holds countless workplaces together. That hasn’t been more true during this era of lockdowns all around the world.

The sysadmin has been the unsung hero of the modern workplace for some time now. But, woah, did you all step up to make hybrid and remote working happen. In fact all these IT businesses permanently transitioning to support hybrid working simply wouldn’t be possible without you.

So we wanted to do something to celebrate all that y’all do. That’s why we’re kicking off the first ever Sysadmin of the Year award!

We’re giving one lucky sysadmin the chance to be crowned the first Sysadmin of the Year. Not only will you win our shiny golden keyboard trophy, but you’ll also win a brand new Razer Blade gaming laptop valued at $4,999 AUD (RRP). Nominees for the award can also enter the weekly draw to win 1 in 40 limited edition Sysadmin Day t-shirts - designed by yours truly (well, by PaperCut’s design team, not me the word monkey who posted this).

How do you enter? First off, don’t worry, you don’t need to have purchased or even be using PaperCut Software to win. That’s not what we’re in it for. All you have to do is nominate a sysadmin and provide one example of a time where they were caring, honest, intelligent, or nimble, (hey, what do you know, those are our company values!)

To nominate a sysadmin (or yourself, yes that’s allowed), anybody from your workplace just needs to fill out a form at https://go.papercut.com/Sysadmin-Of-The-Year-Award-2021

Applications open 1 July and close 23 July. Every week we’ll draw the t-shirts and then we’ll announce the winner of the shiny golden keyboard trophy and gaming laptop on 30 July via a live premiere on YouTube.

For full terms and conditions head to - https://cdn1.papercut.com/web/marketing/collateral/papercut-sysadmin-of-the-year-2021.pdf

May the best sysadmin win - and may a bunch of you get some free t-shirts!

 

 

Super easy to set up, manage and maintain; and simple for teachers to use – no matter their edtech experience, classroom.cloud (the cloud-based teaching and classroom management platform) now includes new safeguarding features to allows schools to monitor and capture concerning activity, enhancing their ability to provide a safe online learning environment at all times.

Shielding students from inappropriate content while allowing them freedom to learn within safe parameters is a fine balance.

classroom.cloud, developed by NetSupport, is making this easier for schools with the launch of a new proactive safeguarding toolkit that employs contextual intelligence to advance online safeguarding. Far from simply stopping and blocking, it actively alerts the appropriate staff to potential issues and identifies students at risk.

Developed with educators and with best practice, legal requirements and educational guidance in mind, classroom.cloud’s new keyword and phrase monitoring tool (powered by over 14,000 phrases in multiple languages) enables schools to monitor what topics their students are typing or searching for – even in Microsoft Teams. Schools can also share and exchange local terms with other schools and add any new ones to their database to further broaden their eSafety net.

Identifying and prioritising students engaged in genuinely high-risk activity is of paramount importance in any safeguarding policy. Using classroom.cloud’s contextual intelligence Risk Index, staff can see how potentially ‘at risk’ students are in their online activity. It considers not only a student’s current activity, but also the context (time of day, device used, history of similar searches and more), creating a risk index number that indicates to staff whether urgent intervention is needed – and, if so, enables them to do so with the correct professional response.

Spotting trending topics at a glance is now made possible for schools with its innovative word cloud. Created by the phrases students trigger, it quickly identifies trending topics that are active across a school. It also allows staff to view a full explanation and definition to help them understand the potential risk, as well as who triggered it.

Safeguarding issues require sensitive handling and confidentiality. classroom.cloud supports this with its easy-to-use access rights that can be applied or changed as needed, ensuring only authorised staff have access to the information.

Speaking about the new release, NetSupport’s CEO, Al Kingsley, said: “With this latest update to classroom.cloud, schools can identify, support and help protect students at all times – no matter where they are. Gaining a clear picture of any concerning activity, whilst simultaneously applying online safety controls, ensures schools can provide students with the best possible online access while being safe at all times – crucial as schools are increasingly identifying and responding to concerns around sexual harassment and peer-on-peer abuse.

He continued: “The new online safety tools also provide valuable teachable moments when staff can spot trending topics such as the ’48 hour missing challenge’ and feed it into an assembly or class update to help educate students of the risks.”

classroom.cloud is a perfect example of supporting the safe and responsible use of classroom technology and recently scored 95% in Pedagogical Approach in an independent evaluation by Education Alliance Finland.

To learn more about classroom.cloud and to sign up for a free trial, visit https://classroom.cloud/, where product video tours and a range of supporting resources are also available.

You will most likely have received a message from the Chief Information Security Officer recently regarding Ransomware and how to protect your organisation from the rising threat.

It is estimated around half of UK organisations faced some form of cyber-security breach in 2019/20. Most of the time the firewall and/or anti-virus software will trap the attempted infiltration however…. just like some human viruses, there’s an occasional one that gets through and causes havoc.

In extreme cases, hackers can encrypt and hold your data to ransom. If you don’t have your data backed up (effectively), the only way to recover might be to succumb to the hackers demands and pay up. There is, of course, no guarantee that payment will see your data returned.

Ransomware or a virus may not be specifically targeted to you; They are designed to be smart and will automatically seek the weakness in IT systems, then spread further and embed themselves until the circumstances are right for maximum damage.

The best way to negate a ransomware attack is to ensure your systems are correctly patched, firewalled and an effective data backup is in place.

‘MyCloudBackup for Education’ provides a specialist Data Backup solution, tailored for Education.

Offsite/Cloud Backup is the only way to protect your critical data from Ransomware

Sounds like an extreme statement, but it’s true. The only way to ensure you can recover from a Ransomware attack is to recover your clean data from outside of the infected system.

Before restoring, ‘MyCloudBackup for Education’ scans all of your data to check it is clear of any malicious files; This ensures the prevention of an unwanted re-infection.

How would it work for you?

As a School or Academy, you’ll be aware of the sensitive nature of your data. Imagine arriving one morning to find your system had been hit by Crypto Virus. Yes, you’ll need to activate your disaster recovery plan and it will be inconvenient, but you can be safe in the knowledge that you have a full backup of your clean data held offsite.

Our tech guys will also be on hand to assist with the recovery process if required. You’ll be back up and running in no time with minimal disruption.

Don’t know where to start?

Don’t worry, we are here to guide you through this process. Our expert advisors can create the backups for you and provide advice on the ‘best practice’ for data retention as well as being available 24x7 for any on-going support you may require.

Our fully featured web portal shows all successful backup jobs, and allows you to easily restore single files, multiple folders or entire Servers’.

If you would like more advice or a demo/trial, simply message MyCloudBackup_Helen or visit: https://mycloudbackup.co.uk/education

Hello there. Without meaning to be too much of a bold one, Papercut thought you might like to know about the release today of their cloud-native print management solution, PaperCut Hive.

The official blurb says that PaperCut Hive brings the power, control, security, and savings of print management traditionally enjoyed by large businesses to organizations of any size, even the smallest around the world, via serverless printing.

The unofficial blurb says Papercut are super excited about launching this, as it provides a path to print management savings and security for workplaces that are cloud native.

The fancy parts of PaperCut Hive are things like:

- the use of Edge Mesh tech in place of needing a physical print server

- loads of redundancy built in to the self-healing mesh

- the ability to print from off-network

- the ability to print even when the internet’s down (that one’s coming soon)

PaperCut Hive at a glance

Another cloud print management problem PaperCut Hive has solved is the speed of printing for users. While some software vendors have slowed down the printing process by sending documents up to the cloud and back down again—frustrating workers who have to waste time waiting for their document to print—PaperCut Hive keeps printed documents within the workplace via the Edge Mesh.

For more information about PaperCut Hive, see the PaperCut website: https://go.papercut.com/PaperCut-Hive-Is-Here.html

The past twelve months have been a tough one for schools. Teachers, pupils, IT managers and almost everyone in the education sector have had to adapt in some way to the changing requirements brought about by online learning. With these digital changes, IT budgets have been pushed to their absolute limit which is why we feel now is a great time to share how one community education trust in Essex saved over £300,000 by working with Intelligent Servers on their Network, Server and SAN Storage upgrade.

Industry: Education

Organisation size: Six schools managed by the trust

Hardware: Cisco Catalyst Switches, Dell PowerEdge R620 and R820 Rack Servers, Dell PowerVault SAS Storage SAN

Location: Essex, UK

Budget: £120,000

Objective: Cost-effective upgrade of the entire Network and Server infrastructure

Introduction

The IT Manager responsible for the IT infrastructure of six schools approached Intelligent Servers when he was tasked with a large infrastructure overhaul project. The project included replacing the entire fibre and copper Network Switch infrastructure as well as upgrading all of the current Server infrastructure.

Network Infrastructure Overhaul

The Trust wanted to upgrade their existing HP ProCurve infrastructure that consisted of 1Gbit at the Core and 100Mbit at the Edge. The IT Manager wanted to upgrade the entire infrastructure with 10Gbit at the Core and 1Gbit at the Edge.

The Trust had a few resellers quote new HP ProCurve/Aruba solutions with most quoting over £350,000. Intelligent Servers came in at £80,000 using Refurbished Cisco Catalyst 6509’s at the Core, giving the customer multiple media types by using 1Gbit RJ45, 1Gbit SFP and 10Gbit X2 Line Cards. Intelligent Servers supplied Cisco Catalyst 4948-10GE’s at the Edge for 1Gbit RJ45 endpoint connectivity and 10Gbit Uplinks back to the Core Cisco Catalyst 6509’s.

Server Infrastructure Overhaul

Since the Trust saved over £200,000 on Networking, the IT Manager had budget leftover to upgrade his ageing Dell R610 Servers to 11 Dell PowerEdge R620’s and R820’s. They also bought a Dell SAS Storage SAN and connected all the R620’s to this. Again, they saved over £90,000 by choosing Refurbished from Intelligent Servers instead of ‘New’ direct from Dell. All the Dell Servers were fully configured with Processors, Hard Drives, Memory and other component parts to the Trust’s exact requirements. The Servers were built by specialists at Intelligent Servers’ dedicated facility and fully tested before being packed in custom packaging to ensure a safe transit.

All of the hardware was backed with a three year warranty which includes remote setup and support. Throughout the project, IT Technicians from Intelligent Servers visited the site to assist with the installation and configuration of the new infrastructure.

Since completing the project, the Education Trust has placed over 25 orders with Intelligent Servers for a range of IT hardware including Laptops for employees, Hard Drives for upgrades and Dell PowerEdge Servers for other infrastructure projects.

Key Benefits

• Market-leading three year warranty including remote setup and support
  
• Huge savings with quality refurbished IT hardware
  
• Technical advice from experienced account managers
  
• Over 250,000 IT parts in stock, ready to ship
  
• Specialists configure and test hardware then ship in a ready-to-deploy condition
  

_________________________________________________________________________________

 

Intelligent Servers is a leading refurbished server, storage, networking and components reseller. We specialise in HP, Dell and Cisco, supplying thousands of businesses across Europe.

Call: 01423 223430 Email: Sales@intelligentservers.co.uk Visit: https://IntelligentServers.co.uk

Read more of our customer case studies on our website > https://Intelligentservers.co.uk/case-studies

In our latest series of live events, we get real-world experiences of a trust and a primary school adopting Microsoft Teams and SharePoint. The free webinars are designed to help your school get the most out of Microsoft 365.

Firstly, we talk to an Assistant Principal at the Fallibroome Trust about how they’ve adopted Microsoft 365 across the trust. This is followed up with an event in April where we speak to a DfE EdTech demonstrator and Microsoft Showcase School to learn about using Teams to reinforce learning both before, during and after the pandemic.

Sign up to the events for free here: https://www.clouddesignbox.co.uk/events/

Events

• Teams safeguarding with Senso Cloud - Tuesday 23 March at 11am
  
• Embracing Microsoft 365 at the Fallibroome Trust - Thursday 25 March at 1pm
  
• Blended learning in primary schools using Microsoft Teams with Cornerstone Academy Trust - Monday 12 April 2021 at 4pm [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK
  
• More events coming soon - Get notified about new events.
  

]

Sign up but can’t attend? You receive a video recording after the session to watch back at any time.

Know someone who could benefit from these sessions? Feel free to share the link and spread the word, our events are free and open to everyone.

About Cloud Design Box

Cloud Design Box helps save teachers time and schools achieve more with a range of automation features from centralising resources to SharePoint intranets. Book a demo or have a friendly chat to one of our Education Experts by contacting us:

Web: https://www.clouddesignbox.co.uk/contact

Tel: 01482 688890

Email: info@clouddesignbox.co.uk

New feature from Cloud Design Box – Class Cover Manager

Schools are currently facing additional challenges when managing class cover as a result of a teacher being absent due to sickness, needing to self-isolate or be re-deployed to teach key worker students.

Cloud Design Box has created a solution that allows schools to quickly and easily organise class cover, making sure the member of staff has temporary access to the right learning resources and Class Team within seconds.

Cloud Design Box solutions

In addition to the free events, we have provided some information below about the benefits and features Cloud Design Box add into Teams and SharePoint. If you would like any further information or would like to arrange a demo, visit the website https://www.clouddesignbox.co.uk.

Saving time for teachers

Central Resource areas help teachers reuse department resources from within each class and assignment.

A clear long-term strategy

Our program of rollout, training and follow up provides the school with a long-term strategy to succeed with Microsoft Teams.

Building confidence with new technology

Interactive online CPD certified courses for small groups of staff with a dedicated trainer so staff can gain confidence and embrace a new way of working. Creating and sharing quality resources in the cloud is no longer exclusive to tech-savvy teachers.

Easy-to-use

A global personalised menu for easy clear navigation into Teams and sites, even for beginners.

Saving costs for schools

Large long-term savings when refreshing hardware and licensing. Potential to replace other third-party software packages into a single system.

Work with your current Teams or build you new ones

Already have Teams?

If you already have Teams and Microsoft School Data sync through another provider, we can integrate with that data directly without additional MIS integration causing no disruption.

Don't already have Class Teams?

We can integrate with most UK MIS providers to sync class team membership using Microsoft school data sync.

Features in more detail

Replace school network drives

Create long-term storage areas in Teams and SharePoint for non-curricular shares currently on the school network. Saving costs and getting all the benefits of moving to the cloud.

Staff subject analytics

Ensure no one is left behind using the staff assignment analytic tool. Department leaders can track how often each department is setting assignments.

Keep track of departments

Heads of department can easily keep track of the quality of resources being used in classes using centralised resource areas.

One version of the truth

Resources are centralised to avoid duplication of work. No need to upload resources for every class team you teach each academic year!

Student can drop off work

Each student in the class has an individual private folder and the class teacher can provide regular feedback on live documents.

Departmental meetings and chat

A place for departments to meet online and share best practices.

Publish resources

A SharePoint intranet to help you publish resources such as policies and news throughout the whole school.

Manage your own Teams

We provide a self-service tool to create teams and sites.

Contact us for a chat:

Email: info@clouddesignbox.co.uk

Website: https://www.clouddesignbox.co.uk/contact

Telephone: 01482 688890

Management Information Systems relay some of the most important information from inside your school, but in recent years innovation in this area has been hard to find. IRIS has taken matters into its own hands with Ed:gen, the answer to the stagnant MIS market.

At a glance:

- Ed:gen is a cloud-based MIS designed for education professionals regardless of location.

- Its simple to use dashboard gives a clear view of data, powering better decision making.

- Working in real time, staff can share notes and powerful, simple communication tools.

- It saves time for teachers by minimising admin and putting information at their fingertips.

The problem with the traditional MIS

The traditional MIS is lacking features needed for today’s teaching environment. Outside of the education industry there are intuitive interfaces, time saving mechanics and a general feeling of modernity, but existing school MIS systems for education are dated and clunky. The traditional MIS doesn’t make teachers and school leaders’ lives easier. Instead it adds another layer of process – costing them even more time.

Teachers also can’t make the most of their data. Although the odd excel spreadsheet may provide figures, it is only as good as the data from when it was created, and it therefore doesn’t give the real-time view needed to show teachers they are improving the life chances of children.

This applies to the whole school estate. From finance and payroll to HR and administration, each department is moving information from one system (or spreadsheet) to another, gaining little intelligence in the process. Trusts need to evaluate information across all departments to make strategic decisions about their direction. But instead, traditional systems force every department to work in inefficient and time-consuming siloes.

Finally, the world is quickly moving to cloud computing, where working from anywhere, on any device, over the internet is the norm. Sadly, too many MIS systems remain in administration offices behind closed doors, which means the most vital information cannot be accessed from anywhere else.

Ed:gen - the next gen solution

IRIS observed these issues, and developed an MIS that addresses these problems – IRIS Ed:gen.

Harnessing the power of data is a common theme when assessing MIS systems, and IRIS’ offering is particularly impressive. Refining how information is presented, accessed and utilised, Ed:gen’s single view of all data, in real time and in one place, makes it an incredibly powerful decision-making tool.

Ed:gen is far easier to access and use than its counterparts, partly thanks to its cloud-based nature. Data can be checked from anywhere; from a desktop in the classroom, to the mobile app in the staff room, or a laptop in the kitchen.

Collaboration is finally efficient too. There’s real-time sharing, voice to text features, and automated communication tools between teachers, departments, and year groups. An intuitive registration feature syncs notes from one register to another across the day, essentially sharing notes in real time. Meanwhile, timetables, reporting, and auditing also benefit from Ed:gen’s single view.

All of this means that IRIS has created an MIS that tangibly improves productivity and saves teachers’ time, offering the potential to lead to even bigger positive outcomes for schools.

So is it evolution, or revolution?

For over 12,000 schools and academies, IRIS Education already provides staff the catalyst for real, positive changes in the way that they use data. And for over four million families, IRIS connects staff and students with the things that matter – each other.

This approach is also applied to IRIS Ed:gen. Each feature offers a level of ease and connectivity not seen before in MIS technology and when combined, the resulting product makes you wonder why things weren’t like this all along.

What IRIS has created with Ed:gen is more than an evolution of past MIS software. It’s the MIS revolution teachers and school leaders have been waiting for.

Edulife & G Suite for Education Case study: Chiltern Learning Trust Case Study

Chiltern Learning Trust

Chiltern Learning Trust is a group of 11 schools across Luton and Central Bedfordshire, ranging from primary up to a secondary school with sixth form. They began their journey with Google for Education back when there were just two schools in the trust. At that time the schools were both already using a learning platform due to the Department for Education requirements for all secondary schools to have one. However, the platform wasn’t having much of an impact on teaching and learning as it relied heavily on teachers adding content to the system.

The staff, rather than using the generic tools that were included in the platform, began using the Google tools such as Gmail and Google Drive that were also embedded in the learning platform. After doing a detailed evaluation with staff and students they decided that they didn’t need to be paying for the platform since the generic tools included were not being utilised. Considering the staff were already beginning to use some of the apps from G Suite they decided that switching over to G Suite for Education would make sense.

One issue with this was that the platform they were using previously came with a syncing service between SIMS and G Suite. So, when they wanted to end the contract, that valuable service would be lost and would need replacing. During the search for a replacement syncing service, Chiltern Learning Trust came across Wizkids.

Working with Wizkids

Chiltern Learning Trust first began working with Wizkids using Edulife, which allows schools to move their data to the cloud with ease, by synchronising their MIS data with G Suite for Education.

Over the last 7 years, the Trust has grown from 2 schools to 11 ranging from primary, secondary, to sixth form and all of which have different needs. The Trust operates in a way that allows the schools to bespoke their own technology for learning strategies. However, to allow for collaboration across the Trust, all schools have a Gmail email account for both staff and pupils. This encourages the sharing of ideas and best practice across the Trust.

Google Classroom and Google Drive are the backbone of learning across the schools. They often use Google tools in conjunction with Microsoft tools, encouraging the students to be multi-platform users with a mix of Google, Microsoft and Apple devices.

Chiltern Learning Trust and Wizkids have developed a mutually beneficial working relationship. Chiltern Learning Trust feeds back their ideas about what features would increase efficiency and further optimise their ways of working and Wizkids always takes these comments on board, leading to the development of new functions and features such as the roll out of Guardian Summaries in Google Classroom and Apple device management for one of the schools which uses iPads.

The Trust decided to adopt G Suite because they wanted to minimise the changes that schools were going through in terms of using different learning platforms from year to year. Once Google was introduced it was made easier by the fact that updates run automatically.

The Trust has reported that customer service has been fantastic. It's been so valuable to both Chiltern Learning Trust and Wizkids to be able to share ideas freely and discover what is possible.

Reducing Teacher Workload

Wizkids implemented their solution Edulife, which allows schools to move their data to the cloud by synchronising their MIS data with G Suite for Education.

The schools within the Trust are quite individualised. Not everything is completely the same in every school but it is clear that they have all seen real benefits The Trust has seen a steady increase in schools asking for training on Google Classroom as they have been using it widely, especially to support remote learning. Having the Google Classrooms already automatically set up by Wizkids really decreases teacher workload and genuinely saves staff a lot of time having to manually set up classrooms. Teachers love the fact they don’t have to set them up themselves. Having the automatic sync has genuinely made a difference to their workload.

Distance Learning

The schools are often encouraged to give feedback about how G Suite and the features of Edulife are working for them, and if there’s anything that would make it even better. Wizkids set up a “Super Classroom Teacher'' account in a number of the secondary schools, allowing Leadership Teams to have a strategic overview of work taking place online and allowing teachers to be better supported. The “Invite Guardians'' feature makes a huge difference, especially now that all schools are using Google Classrooms as their primary means of delivery of teaching and learning during the second lockdown due to Coronavirus. The schools within the Trust are at different stages of their “Google Journey” - with all encouraged to make use of the more advanced features such as Rubrics and Comment Banks for marking and feedback. Regardless of their level of expertise, the amount of time saved during lockdown and self-isolation has been invaluable. Teachers only have to prepare one set of resources whether the students are in the classroom or at home. Students working at home don’t miss out, and the teachers don’t have to duplicate work as the delivery is all done via Google Classroom as a matter of course, regardless of whether they will be teaching the students in person or not.

Year groups have had to be sent home due to Coronavirus restrictions for weeks at a time which would have caused a lot of disruption to learning. It was and still is essential that teachers can move learning online at very short notice if a case of Coronavirus appears in the school. A teacher can begin the week thinking that the whole class will be in and that can change overnight. The students know where and how to access the work and their timetable doesn’t change. “I don’t know what we would do without it.” The schools have been able to reduce the disruption that Coronavirus would have caused with a user-friendly platform. This made school closures far more manageable and less overwhelming for staff and students alike.

Improving Teaching and learning

A natural “next step” for Chiltern Learning Trust schools following the adoption and embedding of Google was to look at solutions to the issue of increased numbers of digital devices across the school estates. Denbigh High School ran a pilot 1:1 Chromebook Scheme which was hugely successful and now parents across three of the secondary schools within the Trust are able to “opt in” and purchase a Chromebook to support their child’s learning both in school and at home.

Staff best practices

There is a heavy focus on training the schools’ support staff as well as teachers to ensure that there is a school-wide knowledge of the systems that are being used. Two of the schools within the trust (Denbigh High School and Challney High School for Girls) are part of the Department for Education’s funded EdTech Demonstrator Programme. These schools are using appointed Digital Practitioners to produce films and webinars to support other schools across the country with their use of technology for learning and the development of digital strategies.

Summary In a nutshell, the top 3 benefits of having the data from the schools MIS sync automatically to G Suite for Education with Edulife are:

1. Genuine reduction of workload for teachers, a dynamic solution that saves a large amount of time.
   
2. Customer support and being able to push the boundaries of what is possible.
   
3. Ease of access for pupils, especially during lockdowns and self isolations which could have been a major disruption to learning.
   

This solution puts everyone on a level playing field and helps teachers and support staff become more confident with technology. Edulife makes it easier for schools to transition because all of the configuration is done automatically for them. Staff can then focus on what really matters: high quality teaching and learning.

Learn more about Wizkids Classroom Manager by clicking here (PDF)

To read more case studies or find out more please visit the Wizkids website or contact us: info@wizkids.co.uk.

The start of 2021 has already thrown some curve-balls into the education sector, with many schools not opening or with only selected year groups returning to school. Technology is playing a huge part in the continuation of learning, so ensuring that schools can easily find out about solutions that can help them now – and in the future – is essential.

The Check it out! show, now on its fourth episode in the series, helps schools to discover new solutions in a fun, informative online show, hosted by Al Kingsley and Mark Anderson (authors of ‘A Guide to Creating a Digital Strategy in Education’).

Available to watch live via YouTube on the 19th January from 7pm at

Al and Mark explain: “In the education sector, January is always a busy month – and even more so with the impact of COVID-19. That said, we want to help schools discover new edu solutions that could be a game-changer for their current situations, all in one informative show.”

To watch back the most recent show, click here – or, to learn more, visit #CheckItOutShow on Twitter.

The ‘Check it out!’ show overview

After the success of the first three shows, with over 8,000 combined views, Al and Mark are now calling for contributors to the January edition of the show. So, if you have a solution or service you would like school leaders and educators to hear about, please click here.

Back by popular demand, Al Kingsley and Mark Anderson (authors of ‘A Guide to Creating a Digital Strategy in Education’) are hosting a Christmas edition of the ‘Check it out!’ show that highlights the latest and greatest in EdTech.

Broadcasting live on 22nd December 2020 at 7pm on the NetSupport YouTube channel

Al and Mark explain: “After such a challenging year, we thought it would be nice to end it with a fun, festive show that brings together the best in edtech and that will hopefully inspire schools and ease the burden of finding new solutions for 2021.”

To watch back the most recent show, click here – or to learn more, visit #CheckItOutShow on Twitter.

The ‘Check it out!’ show overview

After the success of the first two shows, with over 6,000 combined views, Al and Mark are now calling for contributors to the December edition of the show. So, if you have a solution or service you would like school leaders and educators to hear about, please click here.

 

The ‘Check it out!’ show is back by popular demand, showcasing the ‘must-have’ education solutions

After a successful first show in October, the ‘Check it out!’ show is back for another broadcast in November and is packed full of exciting new education solutions that will have an impact on education today and in the future – and that schools and educators need to hear about.

Hosted by Al Kingsley and Mark Anderson (authors of ‘A Guide to Creating a Digital Strategy in Education’), the show will be broadcasted live on 24th November 2020 at 7pm on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfNKZHukL_s. It will include guest speakers showcasing a range of new edtech solutions – from safeguarding and accessibility, to learning platforms and GPDR solutions, and more.

Al and Mark explain: “After receiving such amazing feedback from the 4,000 plus viewers and a huge number of guest entries, we thought it would be great to continue the show, ensuring schools and educators gain a real insight into what’s available and how edtech can support their staff and students effectively.”

Some of the feedback from the first show includes:

“A must-see for anyone looking to discover new and innovative edtech solutions.” – CENTURY TECH

“It’s the ‘Tomorrow’s World’ of edtech.” – Learn Radio

“If you're interested in edtech, there are loads of really useful solutions for schools highlighted in this show!” ICT Scoop

Al and Mark are also calling for contributors to upcoming shows, so, if you have a solution or service you would like school leaders and educators to hear about, please click here. To watch back the first show click here or to learn more visit #CheckItOutShow on Twitter.

Spreading the word about new products and innovations has just got a little easier for edtech vendors and educators with the launch of a new show called Check this out!

Hosted by Al Kingsley and Mark Anderson (authors of ‘A Guide to Creating a Digital Strategy in Education’), the show will take place virtually on 27th October 2020 at 7pm and will provide a platform for anyone within the education sector (for example, educators, technicians and edtech providers) to share their new and innovative services/solutions for schools, to help them face the challenges of the ‘new normal’ landscape.

Introducing the show, the duo explain: “We really wanted to give a voice to those within the education sector who have a new service or solution that they feel could really benefit schools and educators in these challenging times. Plus, it’s important that schools are aware of all the amazing technologies and services available, to help them make informed decisions. That’s why we thought we would help connect the two and create a show to share the latest developments in the world of education – and we envisage having some really interesting discussions about some great products!”

Contributors to the first episode will focus on resources, curriculum solutions, remote learning, pedagogy, teacher recruitment, plus much more!

Viewers can watch the show live from 7pm on 27th October at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqD6rBsvziM or catch up with the discussion later by listening to the podcast here.

Al and Mark are also calling for contributors to the show, so, if you have a solution or service you would like school leaders and educators to hear about, please click here.

In light of these unprecedented times and the pressures placed not just financially on schools but also the fast switching use of technology towards the cloud, we have looked at ways in which we can adapt the products we offer and really try to help you as Education IT Professionals.

As a UK based cloud partner that offers enterprise-class backup solutions that meet all GDPR regulations whilst still delivering ultra-reliable and high performance services to our clients, we felt that we can really help make a difference in not just the performance and safety of your backups but also the costs.

Here are some of the elements we are able to offer:

• Veeam enterprise-class software utilising Veeam Cloud Connect
  
• Always Available
  
• Web-based Console
  
• Scalable backups
  
• GDPR & ISO compliance
  
• 24/7/365 management, monitoring and support by trained and certified staff
  
• End-to-End encryption
  
• Office 365, Exchange Online, SharePoint & Teams backup options
  
• BareMetal restoration of entire failed servers, putting your protected systems back in business in as little as an hour instead of several days.
  
• UK based Datacentre
  

Here’s what we would like to offer you as Education and Edugeek users, this is a limited time offer so please be quick.

If you would like more details on how our Off-Site Veeam Cloud Connect Backup & Tape Archiving service works, please get in touch on

Tel: 0800 612 5031 Email: sales@intelligencehs.co.uk Website: www.intelligencehs.co.uk

It's no secret that schools have faced unprecedented pressures over the duration of the Coronavirus outbreak. Every kind of organisation in the global economy has been impacted; each one battling its own individual set of problems. But for those working in schools, those problems are exacerbated further still by the responsibility held for millions of children and their future life chances.

In one fell swoop, schools were forced to close “until further notice”, GCSE and A Level exams cancelled, and schools were told to continue to care for vulnerable children and children of keyworkers – even through school holidays. Schools quickly went from teaching in an ordinary learning enviroment, to delivering lessons remotely in a virtual one.

But if this period taught us anything, it is that in today’s digital age there’s no question that school resources need to be available online in order that teachers and pupils can access them from home – which is something that the Government have acknowledged in their advice for school re-opening in September. Whatever the school of the future will look like, we are pretty sure it will include a combination – a hybrid or blend – of both physical and remote learning.

Schools have responded magnificently to this seismic shift, and RM – a company that has worked side-by-side with many schools during this period – has collated some of the more common lessons they have learnt:

1. Technology really can be your friend. Research undertaken by RM before the virus outbreak found that many teachers have been historically reluctant to embrace technology in schools, but the shutdown has made then re-evaluate their assumptions. There are now some amazing resources available – for example the Oak Academy – that when built into a lesson plan, will not only go some way to alleviate teacher workloads, but will also help a subject come alive, freeing teachers up to do what they do best – teach.
   
2. Technology brings added benefits. Working with some of these new online tools means that teachers are now able to collect and give feedback; to harness tools like MS Teams and Google Meet to hold departmental, one to one and SLT meetings; and use the various Forms features to gain feedback from parents – such as when they are planning to send their children back to the classroom – things that can be built upon as teaching starts to return to some form of normality this term.
   
3. Not all technology is the same. Whilst school budgets are always difficult, the more modern a devices is, the faster it will run, and the easier it will be to use. A new Chromebook is a lot cheaper than a more traditional laptop or desktop, yet can be used in very similar ways. Good technology can also save money elsewhere – whether that is making a school run more efficiently, helping teachers manage their workloads better, or helping bring savings elsewhere – such as paper, printing and postage – the costs of all of which can be reduced with a switch to a more digital school.
   
4. The cloud can no longer be ignored. Whilst many schools had started the journey to the cloud long before shutdown, if there is one lasting lesson to come from it, it is that being able to access files remotely has become essential. The addition of free Government funding to support those schools without a Google or Microsoft tenancy, makes this all the more of an essential investment – right now – whilst that money is still available. The cloud provides flexibility – and the simplicity – that a modern school needs – even without the added complication of a global pandemic.
   
5. Know who you can call upon. Whilst many schools have their own support teams, and/or work with small local providers, when you are faced with the sort of challenge that a complete school shutdown throws at you, having an experienced and established partner around, can help. One who has multiple engineers should one fall sick, with a team on and offshore that can work whilst you are asleep, and has strategic partnerships with the likes of Microsoft and Google when it is most needed. As one school commented in the midst of the pandemic – “Having a partner with the breadth and depth of RM has helped me sleep much more soundly at night”.
   
6. Be prepared to lead others at times of adversity. One potentially unexpected finding is that the role of the IT Manager has become much more important within a school. When the shutdown was first announced, everyone looked to this person to come to the rescue, and as the school has learnt to cope with different types of teaching, the IT coordinator is now included in all the critical strategic meetings within the school – if not leading from the front, at least involved in all the key decisions.
   

In terms of a legacy, there is a strong hope that some of the changes that schools have made will be long-lasting. Whilst it is a shame that it takes something so dramatic to bring about change, there has to be some good from this shutdown period. In the words of one school – “we have moved forwards more in 12 weeks than we could have done in 5 years”. Teachers are now using these new platforms to set and receive homework and are encouraging collaboration online – with many excited about how they can incorporate them into the new term. All of this has been possible for a while, but it is now finally dawning on schools that they can truly benefit from embracing technology within their everyday approach.

Simon Carter

Marketing & Propositions Director

RM Education