1. spend less, be safe and achieve more
School IT:
spend less, be safe and achieve more
Sharing top tips from lessons learned in other schools on how technology can cost you less to deliver and support, ensure teachers and pupils are safe, and improve collaboration

2. plus Managed Services at another 800+ schools
About us
Our school partnerships
Local Managed Services partnerships with…
plus Managed Services at another 800+ schools
Further local schools Newent Community College – had 5 staff now 2, Chosen Hill School had 3 staff now 1.

3. Our survey of Bursars, IT and Academic leads says…
IT isn’t easy.
Our survey of Bursars, IT and Academic leads says…
Teachers underutilise IT
Teachers only use IT beyond basic whiteboard use in 40% of lessons
Academic respondent says they're not very confident in teachers' ability to enhance learning outcomes using existing IT skills, the school’s latest technology isn’t used very often (worse than IT think) and on the whole IT systems are underutilised (all three roles agree).
Collaborative tools only being used in 1/3 of schools.
Under 1/3 schools provide teachers with necessary CPD to use school technology
Only 55% of teachers always have access to IT at home for lesson prep
Teachers are only working towards success of school’s IT strategy for 1/3 of schools
Majority of teachers aware of IT vision and strategy in just 1/5 of schools
Business continuity
Most Bursars say they’re dependent on their head of IT
Security
Only 43% of Bursars very confident data is secure and accessed by authorised persons
1/3 of schools don’t patch their systems until holidays (or worse)
Safeguarding
Only 7% of schools have online safeguarding solutions that work students’ first languages
1/3  of schools' IT teams think they don't have any form of proactive alerting in place

4. Our survey of Bursars, IT and Academic leads says…
IT isn’t easy.
Our survey of Bursars, IT and Academic leads says…
Teachers underutilise IT
IT uses only goes beyond basic whiteboard use in 40% of lessons
Not very confident in teachers' ability to enhance learning outcomes using existing IT skills
Latest technology isn’t used very often
IT systems are underutilised
Collaborative tools only being used in 1/3 of schools
Teachers underutilise IT
Teachers only use IT beyond basic whiteboard use in 40% of lessons
Academic respondent says they're not very confident in teachers' ability to enhance learning outcomes using existing IT skills, the school’s latest technology isn’t used very often (worse than IT think) and on the whole IT systems are underutilised (all three roles agree).
Collaborative tools only being used in 1/3 of schools.
Under 1/3 schools provide teachers with necessary CPD to use school technology
Only 55% of teachers always have access to IT at home for lesson prep
Teachers are only working towards success of school’s IT strategy for 1/3 of schools
Majority of teachers aware of IT vision and strategy in just 1/5 of schools
Business continuity
Most Bursars say they’re dependent on their head of IT
Security
Only 43% of Bursars very confident data is secure and accessed by authorised persons
1/3 of schools don’t patch their systems until holidays (or worse)
Safeguarding
Only 7% of schools have online safeguarding solutions that work students’ first languages
1/3  of schools' IT teams think they don't have any form of proactive alerting in place

5. Our survey of Bursars, IT and Academic leads says…
IT isn’t easy.
Our survey of Bursars, IT and Academic leads says…
Teachers underutilise IT
IT uses only goes beyond basic whiteboard use in 40% of lessons
Not very confident in teachers' ability to enhance learning outcomes using existing IT skills
Latest technology isn’t used very often
IT systems are underutilised
Collaborative tools only being used in 1/3 of schools
Under 1/3 schools provide teachers CPD
Half of teachers can’t always access IT at home for prep
Teachers only part of IT strategy in 1/3 of schools
Majority of teachers unaware of IT vision and strategy in 4 out of 5 schools
Teachers underutilise IT
Teachers only use IT beyond basic whiteboard use in 40% of lessons
Academic respondent says they're not very confident in teachers' ability to enhance learning outcomes using existing IT skills, the school’s latest technology isn’t used very often (worse than IT think) and on the whole IT systems are underutilised (all three roles agree).
Collaborative tools only being used in 1/3 of schools.
Under 1/3 schools provide teachers with necessary CPD to use school technology
Only 55% of teachers always have access to IT at home for lesson prep
Teachers are only working towards success of school’s IT strategy for 1/3 of schools
Majority of teachers aware of IT vision and strategy in just 1/5 of schools
Business continuity
Most Bursars say they’re dependent on their head of IT
Security
Only 43% of Bursars very confident data is secure and accessed by authorised persons
1/3 of schools don’t patch their systems until holidays (or worse)
Safeguarding
Only 7% of schools have online safeguarding solutions that work students’ first languages
1/3  of schools' IT teams think they don't have any form of proactive alerting in place

6. Our survey of Bursars, IT and Academic leads says…
IT isn’t easy.
Our survey of Bursars, IT and Academic leads says…
Business continuity
(Only) 43% of Bursars very confident data is secure and accessed by authorised persons
Most Bursars say they’re dependent on their network manager
1/3 of schools don’t patch their systems until holidays (or worse)
Safeguarding
1/3  of schools' IT teams think they don't have any form of proactive alerting in place
Security
Teachers underutilise IT
Teachers only use IT beyond basic whiteboard use in 40% of lessons
Academic respondent says they're not very confident in teachers' ability to enhance learning outcomes using existing IT skills, the school’s latest technology isn’t used very often (worse than IT think) and on the whole IT systems are underutilised (all three roles agree).
Collaborative tools only being used in 1/3 of schools.
Under 1/3 schools provide teachers with necessary CPD to use school technology
Only 55% of teachers always have access to IT at home for lesson prep
Teachers are only working towards success of school’s IT strategy for 1/3 of schools
Majority of teachers aware of IT vision and strategy in just 1/5 of schools
Business continuity
Most Bursars say they’re dependent on their head of IT
Security
Only 43% of Bursars very confident data is secure and accessed by authorised persons
1/3 of schools don’t patch their systems until holidays (or worse)
Safeguarding
Only 7% of schools have online safeguarding solutions that work students’ first languages
1/3  of schools' IT teams think they don't have any form of proactive alerting in place

7. Start with what you want to achieve
IT can be easier
Start with what you want to achieve
School IT means different things to different schools
It’s a sourcing decision, but you first need to decide your aiming point, what you want to achieve.
This defines your scope.

8. Start with what you want to achieve
IT can be easier
Start with what you want to achieve
School IT means different things to different schools
, shared storage and print
Empower teachers to use IT as a tool to improve learning outcomes
Essentials
Tool for learning
It’s a sourcing decision, but you first need to decide your aiming point, what you want to achieve.
This defines your scope.

9. Start with what you want to achieve
IT can be easier
Start with what you want to achieve
School IT means different things to different schools
, shared storage and print
Empower teachers to use IT as a tool to improve learning outcomes
Essentials
Tool for learning
Internal IT teams are comfortable here
Complexity
Education focus
Strategic alignment to teaching staff
It’s a sourcing decision, but you first need to decide your aiming point, what you want to achieve.
This defines your scope.

10. 7 signs of educational IT excellence
A brief guide to help you identify where your school is at
7 signs of educational IT excellence
E-safety and protection from online security threats
Faster IT fixes and preventing reoccurring IT problems
Network maintenance and good housekeeping
Using ‘big data’ for service improvement
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
The right-size IT team
Innovation for the right reasons
Managing a successful IT provision within a school is about keeping pace with the ever-evolving tools and services that are available.
Forward-thinking schools are using a range of new solutions, tools and expertise to help teachers, staff and the IT support team ensure that your technology goes beyond IT that ‘just works’ to help your whole school perform at their best.

11. E-safety and protection from online security threats
7 signs of educational IT excellence
E-safety and protection from online security threats
The threat of ransomware, viruses and malware is ever present and sadly it’s more a case of ‘when’ your school is subjected to attack rather than ‘if’.
NWM can help with vulnerability patching, proper admin permission allocation, software restrictions and up-to-date AV software but it’s a full time job to keep your systems completely up to date.
Advanced filtering and monitoring tools can look for threats as they happen and ensure you mitigate the impact of any attack.

12. Some worrying statistics…
E-safety
Some worrying statistics…
1 in 8 young people have been bullied on social media

14. Some worrying statistics…
E-safety
Some worrying statistics…
1 in 8 young people have been bullied on social media
2016 saw a 500% increase malware spread
Education is the number 1 target for ransomware attacks

15. The test was passed with flying colours!”
RM Flex customer
“Thank you to the RM team who have worked magnificently this week to recover the Marist School systems from what could have been a significant issue for the school after we suffered a Ransomware incident on Tuesday taking the school fully offline.
This has been the best demonstration so far of the benefits that RM brings to a school in terms of resources, knowledge and project management. Instead of this being an extremely negative experience for the school, with potential damage to reputation, it can be seen as a short term challenge that has tested the ability to identify issues quickly, isolate the danger and begin recovery quickly.
The test was passed with flying colours!”
Jon Philpott, Bursar, Marist School

16. Faster IT fixes and preventing reoccurring IT problems
7 signs of educational IT excellence
Faster IT fixes and preventing reoccurring IT problems
Incident Management
Problem Management
vs.
The typical approach we see today
Prevention thru analysing and monitoring
ITIL is a globally recognised good practice methodology for IT service management (support) - it’s important
because it shapes the way IT teams go about fixing technology problems.
Incident management – restore normal service operation as quickly as possible and to minimize the impact on business operations =
Every issue treated independently, very reactive – fire fighting. Usually how in-house teams work.
Example – ‘ teacher reports internet not working again’ – technician reboots switch and it starts working again. Symptom fixed for this week, but teacher will most likely call in about it again next week when it interrupts another lesson. .
Problem management - prevent problems and resulting incidents, eliminate recurring incidents, minimize the impact of incidents that
cannot be prevented. = looking for trends, root cause analysis, proactive checks. How we work!
Example – engineer notices that teacher has reported internet outages every Tuesday am for last 3 weeks. Checks and updates incorrect switch setting and it starts working again. Root cause fixed so incident will not happen again in the future, and teaching disruption prevented.

17. Network maintenance and good housekeeping…
7 signs of educational IT excellence
Network maintenance and good housekeeping…
Reporting and measurement – what evidence do you have?
Computers work well when they are taken care of, but without regular maintenance and good housekeeping practices you may quickly undermine both the financial and educational value of your technology.
Finding the time and inclination to do the time consuming and tedious jobs of checking and testing those backups, reviewing the wireless infrastructure or patching the servers might be jobs that, although vital, can be easily neglected by a well-meaning but overworked school IT support team.

18. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
7 signs of educational IT excellence
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
Unanticipated IT crises, whether they’re minor disruptions or catastrophic events, can wreak havoc on a school. Ensuring continuity of operations with minimal interruption to learning is essential for any school, but creating a plan that covers every aspect of your daily IT operations is a daunting and complex task.
A disaster recovery plan is not just a sequence of technical tasks performed by IT staff to resolve a short-term problem; it should also consider how, with no IT in place, you might communicate with the school at large, keeping people informed of progress and an expected time for return to service. This might include the times for the different categories of data you have to restore. For instance, this might mean the return of basic system functionality within four hours and the restoration of user files and multimedia content within two days.

19. RM Flex customer
“With RM Education looking after your network you get security and peace of mind. This is the key difference compared to an in-house team. If there is a major ‘disaster recovery’ issue, we have the support of a large organisation behind us.
This is key in showing the school has mitigated significant risks to its operation.”
Dave Noble, Business Director, Temple Moor High School
Do you have an effective business continuity plan and disaster recovery documentation specific to your school?
Do you test the plans at least twice a year, and after any major IT changes, to make sure there are no pitfalls or omissions.
Is your network fully documented with a network topology diagram to map all the connections around the school?
We do!

20. Using ‘big data’ for service improvement
7 signs of educational IT excellence
Using ‘big data’ for service improvement
School leaders can gain feedback on the quality of their school’s performance from sources including formal inspections, performance data from RAISEonline and lesson observations. Over the last decade, schools have been strongly encouraged
to engage in self-evaluation, but there’s no reason why this can’t be extended into assessing your IT too.
Your IT team may install and then review the performance of their devices across the network, and this can be a useful tool provided it is reviewed regularly and acted upon. In reality, any overnight monitoring carried out solely by an in-house
IT team is unlikely to be reviewed and acted upon before the start of the school day, so it’s true value-add is negligible.
Plus, school’s only have the data from their own school, they are unable to identify trends and similarities across schools so that they can benchmark performance, such as knowing the time it takes for a computer to get from switch on to the logon screen in the ‘average’ school.

21. Average around 22 seconds
Our service to you
How we use data to prevent problems – logon times
Number of logins
Average around 22 seconds
Difference from wired 18 seconds to wireless 34 seconds
Enables targeted actions

22. The right-size IT team 7 signs of educational IT excellence
What is the ‘right size’ IT team for your school?
As a business manager who directly employs IT staff, you are responsible for leading, developing and supporting the staff
in your care. Questions on topics you may be wholly unfamiliar with, and learning about the latest IT solutions so you can
effectively support your team is not a great use of your time.
When it comes to HR management, providing an annual review of staff performance comes with its own challenges if you don’t really know what ‘good’ should look like. How can you be confident that each member of your team is performing well, and in the best interests of the school, if you have no benchmark other than their say-so?

23. In forward-thinking schools.
7 signs of educational IT excellence
IT support is changing
In forward-thinking schools.
Does the shape of your IT team accurately reflect the nature of your technology as we move to the cloud?
A large proportion of the support our schools receive is almost invisible to the lay-person, but once transition is complete, the average secondary school with around 1,000 pupils will only need one IT technician on-site. Support of a school network in the 21st century is not about the amount of visible resource you see; it’s more about the support you can’t see!

24. What do you want technology to do in your school?
Have a plan
What do you want technology to do in your school?
Starts with your vision

25. Gap What do you want technology to do in your school?
Have a plan
What do you want technology to do in your school?
Vision
Honest review of where you are now
Strategic plan with key workstreams
Prioritise expenditure against vision
Clearly articulated vision for role of technology in your school
Today
Gap
Starts with your vision

26. What do you want technology to do in your school?
Have a plan
What do you want technology to do in your school?
Vision
Honest appraisal of where you are now
Strategic plan with key workstreams
Prioritise expenditure against vision
Clearly articulated vision for role of technology in your school
Today
Buy-in across the SLT
Teachers, IT, SBM & HT all working together to achieve goals
Starts with your vision

27. Innovation for the right reasons
7 signs of educational IT excellence
Innovation for the right reasons
Possibly the most challenging aspect of IT management is keeping pace with changing technologies so that pupils have the skills they’ll need to become effective contributors to a global marketplace that we can hardly imagine, but is an imminent reality for the students of today and tomorrow.
Teachers like shiny things, but this isn’t a valid reason to buy if it doesn’t fit with your pedagogy or ethos.
Network managers tend to stick with what they know - stepping out of this comfort zone and exploring a new solution is risky.
What if they can’t get sufficient information to make an informed decision on recommendation?
What if the training doesn’t give them enough knowledge to provide effective support?
What if they don’t like the solution and head back to their ‘comfy slippers’?
How do you know what’s best for your school if you don’t explore all the options?

28. How do you plan your approach?
7 signs of educational IT excellence
How do you plan your approach?
Understand
Shape
Design
Deliver
Evolve
UNDERSTAND what your school wants to achieve, what strengths you have now and what weaknesses and barriers exist – then you need to PRIORITISE.
SHAPE what your solution might look like – at a top level, working with an IT partner and learning from other schools
DESIGN, in detail how you and what you will implement and how.
DELIVER the plan – that might be in one ‘big bang’ but it’s more likely to be a phased process.
EVOLVE the solution to grow with your school as your needs change.

29. The future of IT
e Staff ImpaCT Survey

30. RM Flex customer
“What's great about working with RM is that they are totally impartial. They do not force you down one route; it’s simply best value, and for me that works. I need to know that I am using public money effectively.
The great thing that RM offers is the ability to see different options, different solutions in action in other schools. That's of real use to me.
Alan Johnson, Principal, Newent Community School
By sharing with you the experiences and lessons learned at other schools, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel or make the same costly mistakes.
Work with a partner who can help you make technology choices that are motivating, collaborative and engage pupils in learning more effectively.
Sustained impact depends on the confidence of the teaching staff to fully embed ICT into their pupils’ learning experience so that the potential of the technology is fully achieved.

31. Next steps
Collect your printed guide to the 7 signs of educational IT excellence as you leave this session.

32. Ask for a copy of our IT responsibility checklists
Next steps
Ask for a copy of our IT responsibility checklists

33. Next steps
Ask about a free IT healthcheck To help you understand your current strengths and weaknesses.

34. Any questions?

35. Thank you