IT support for schools
IT Support for Schools and Multi-Academy Trusts
For the primary with a technician one day a week, the secondary with one overloaded IT person, or the small trust trying to run four sites the same way. KCSIE and the DfE digital standards are the brief; a person who picks up is the difference.
Priced per school after a visit. A person picks up. Run to Cyber Essentials standards. Twenty years of NHS and government systems.
What's different about IT support for a school
A school’s IT has a safeguarding job before it has anything else. KCSIE expects filtering and monitoring that’s appropriate and reviewed, the DfE’s digital and technology standards say what good looks like for networks, devices, cloud and cyber security, and Ofsted asks about online safety. Behind that sits the MIS that has to work at register time, the finance system, and several hundred devices used by people who are eleven.
Most schools we speak to already have somebody: a technician, a shared trust team, or a company that visits. IT support for schools from us is usually co-managed, adding the security, the cloud and the standards evidence to what’s already there, and being the senior engineer the technician can ring. Fully managed is there for the small primary that has nobody.
What IT support for schools covers
The same managed IT support every small office gets, with the parts that matter to schools done deliberately.
Filtering and monitoring that meets the standard
Web filtering and activity monitoring set up to the DfE standards, reviewed on a schedule, with the record the designated safeguarding lead needs when Ofsted or a governor asks.
Somebody the technician can ring
A senior engineer on the phone for the thing that's beyond first line, and cover when your technician is off. Written into the arrangement, not a favour.
Pupil data that comes back
The MIS, the finance system, the shared drives and staff mailboxes backed up daily and tested by restoring something. A ransomware attack on a school is a safeguarding incident as well as an IT one; the backup is what makes it a bad week rather than a bad year.
Devices managed in bulk
Windows, Chromebooks and iPads enrolled and managed centrally, so a set of thirty laptops is one job, not thirty, and a lost device is wiped rather than worried about.
Microsoft 365 or Google for Education, run properly
Sign-in security for staff, pupil accounts that are created and closed with the roll, and licensing that uses the education discounts rather than paying commercial rates.
Evidence for the governors and the audit
A written record of the controls, mapped to the DfE standards and run to Cyber Essentials standards, so the annual review and the trust's audit have a document.
IT support around schools’ software and their rules
Software you’ll find us comfortable with: SIMS, Arbor, Bromcom, Google Workspace for Education and Microsoft 365 Education, Smoothwall and Securly filtering, Intune and Chromebook management, ParentPay and Arbor Pay.
The rules that shape the IT: Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE), DfE digital and technology standards, DfE filtering and monitoring standards, Ofsted online-safety expectations, UK GDPR for pupil data, DPO obligations.
IT support from us means we look after everything the software runs on, keep the sign-in secure, and handle the vendor when the application itself misbehaves. On the rules, the job is to have the controls on and written down, so the supervisor, the insurer or the inspector gets a document rather than a scramble.
Per school
quoted after a visit, written down
Schools aren't shaped like offices, so the price is per school, quoted after a visit and written down. A small primary is typically a fixed monthly figure that covers the devices and the standards work; a trust gets one number across its sites.
- Co-managed alongside your technician or trust team, or fully managed for the small primary with nobody.
- Education licensing used, not commercial rates.
- Disruptive work in the holidays, quiet in term time.
- Run to Cyber Essentials standards, mapped to the DfE digital standards.
Already have IT support? Keep them, and add the specialist
A lot of schools have somebody: an in-house person, a provider, a shared service. Co-managed IT support keeps what works and adds what’s missing, usually the security layer, the cloud work and the compliance evidence, with a senior engineer your person can ring. The boundary is written down on day one so nobody’s guessing whose alert it is.
If you’d rather one firm handled all of it, that’s managed IT support from us end to end. Eric will tell you which fits on the call.
IT support for schools: the questions people ask first
Do you work with primary schools or just secondaries?
Both, and small trusts. The primary with a visiting technician is the most common conversation, because the safeguarding standards apply just as hard and there's nobody to own them.
We already have an IT technician. Do we need to replace them?
No. Keep them. Co-managed IT support adds the security layer, the cloud, the standards evidence and a senior engineer they can ring, and covers them when they're off.
Do you support SIMS, Arbor and Bromcom?
We look after everything they run on and handle the vendor when the MIS itself misbehaves. Most are hosted now, so the sign-in security and the network are where the work is.
Can you help with KCSIE and the DfE filtering and monitoring standards?
Yes. The filtering and monitoring get set to the standard, reviewed on a schedule, and documented so the DSL and the governors have the record. Ofsted's online-safety questions are answered from that record rather than from memory.
How do you handle term-time and the holidays?
The disruptive work, new devices, network changes, the big updates, happens in the holidays. Term time is for keeping things quiet and answering the phone.
Have a chat with Eric
Fifteen minutes on the phone. A straight answer on whether it’s worth it, and the number if it is.
That didn’t send. Ring 0151 452 3060 and you’ll get me directly, or email [email protected].
IT support for schools by town: Wirral Liverpool Chester Warrington
Ring 0151 452 3060 and a person picks up
IT support for schools across the Wirral, Liverpool and Cheshire. Priced per school after a visit. Backups proven, sign-in secured, the evidence written down, and somebody on your screen in minutes when it goes wrong.