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IT services for schools and academies

IT services for schools and academies

Suffolk County Council provides a range of IT services for schools, academies and multi-academy trusts based in Suffolk.

These services include supporting and training for Public Sector Network (PSN) compliant broadband circuits and secure cloud based remote backup services. We also work with partners to develop and deliver quality services tailored for education needs and budgets.

MIS for LA Maintained Schools

We are pleased to be partnering with Arbor Education to provide both the MIS and Finance data base for our LA Maintained Schools.

Benefits of using Arbor:

Below are just some of the benefits of moving to Arbor:

Cloud-based product, enabling users to login from anywhere.
Remove the need to maintain and run a dedicated on-premises server to host the MIS.
Staff, in roles such as School Business Manager, can save up to 1.5 hours per week. Less time spent on busy admin across school gives staff more time to focus on student outcomes.
Arbor’s recent “Return On Investment” report highlights that schools can typically consolidate two third-party systems because of moving to Arbor. Saving money on third-party licencing and support costs.

You can read more about Arbor Service description and FAQs.

Schools' broadband IT Circuits

It has never been more important for high speed, secure, reliable broadband connections that support the delivery of education either in the classroom or remotely using virtual classroom technologies. Find out more information about our IT Circuits services offerings

Smoothwall web filtering

We are able to provide a managed firewall and Smoothwall web filtering service. The filtering service is designed to ensure that schools can meet their online safeguarding duties and legal mandates set out under the Prevent Duty and Keeping Children Safe Online.

Smoothwall service description and FAQs

We are also in the process of a trialling a Fortigate Filtering Solution – please contact us on schoolsitservices@suffolk.gov.uk if you would like more information.

Office 365 schools’ mailbox

This service delivers a managed O365 mailbox solution which provisions schools with a .suffolk.sch.uk email address using Microsoft A1 faculty licensing. To opt in to this service and request a quote, contact the IT Service Desk on 01473 265555 or send an email to schoolsitservices@suffolk.gov.uk.

Once you have completed your form please email it to ITServicedesk@suffolk.gov.uk

Suffolk schools’ cyber security

Cyber security is an ever-increasing challenge for all organisations with threats constantly evolving. It is important that we understand these threats and use technology effectively to ensure that children, staff and systems are protected.

Suffolk County Council is committed to help Suffolk schools with advice and resources to support them with the challenges of dealing with the growing cyber threats they face.

Redstor remote backup service

Suffolk County Council offers a fully managed backup service, where we monitor and resolve any issues with your Redstor backup. With this service we manage the amount of space you use and send alerts where you are getting close to the storage capacity you have purchased.

We also provide, through Redstor, services to schools and multi-academy trusts who wish to manage their own backups.

IT Procurement services

We offer two procurement services, one for Local Authority (LA) Maintained schools that buy an Enhanced Support Package for MIS support service and a second obtaining quotes on behalf of Schools/Academies.

IT Procurement service descriptions and FAQ’s

Contact us and service updates

Call IT Service Desk on 01473 265555 or email ITServicedesk@suffolk.gov.uk about our services.

Dear Colleagues (16 December 2021)

Following our communication dated 30 November 2021 regarding ESS – Clarity for the future, we stated we would hope to be able to confirm further this week, so here is an update as promised.

Suffolk County Council are not opposed to change and support the development of services that benefit schools in Suffolk. We do however have a responsibility to technically assure services that schools purchase through Suffolk County Council. We also need to consider any implications where these systems integrate with statutory services and be a source of impartial advice. Consequently, we need to ensure that we have completed all due diligence around services, which will then enable us to sign-off on our technical assurance and be able to offer advice to schools.

The timescale being proposed by ESS does not enable us to achieve this and therefore we propose the following:

Suffolk County Council will work with ESS to arrange, promote, and run a series of stakeholder engagement workshops with all schools impacted by the contractual change. These workshops will enable schools to question ESS directly and for ESS to demonstrate Next Gen services and SIMs connected.
After these workshops we will survey all participants to obtain their views on the proposed changes. These responses will then enable us to confirm whether schools are happy to progress with the contractual change.
Parallel to this we will commence a project to technically assure the SIMS connected service for schools in Suffolk. This will include but is not limited to the completion of a DPIA, cloud assurance, assessment of impact on other services. Although committed to doing this, it seems important to not conflate the contractual change with the SIMs connected offering, as this is an additional service that schools can choose to take.

Given the time required to complete the above, we do not believe that we will be able to agree to the new proposal from ESS at this time. However, we are prepared to review that decision prior to the 2023 renewals subject to the satisfactory completion of the above actions.

We will be in touch in the spring term with further information on the stakeholder engagement process.

Dear colleagues (29 November 2021)

We are aware that some of you may have seen on social media or via other MIS providers of the proposed changes from ESS asking schools to sign a 3-year contract directly with themselves, rather than via the LA for the SIMS.net and FMS licences.

We are currently in discussions with ESS to fully understand the new proposal and are working together to try and make an informed decision that ensures our Suffolk schools are still getting best value for money.

At the moment, Suffolk County Council currently have a contract in place with them until 31 March 2025, but as an LA maintained school we ask you continue to renew via us on a yearly basis.

We will be in contact as soon as we can with further details. Kindest Regards, Schools IT Team

New service - Suffolk schools bronze cyber security

12 November 2021

Suffolk County Council has launched the first of our new cyber security services for Suffolk Schools. This new service will be provided at no cost for the first 12 months for all schools who purchase a broadband service from Suffolk County Council.

The new service has four security and information management features, which we have grouped together to help protect schools and educate staff. The services included are:

NCSC CiSP - Cyber advice and forum sign up referral
NCSC - Early Warning System reports, Webcheck & Mailcheck
Weekly Cyber News, including latest threats and vulnerabilities
Information Management training.

You can find full details of this service on the Suffolk schools bronze cyber security page.

Capita's webinar programme

2 June 2020

The Capita SIMS and Capita Reading Cloud Customer Success Team run regular webinar sessions. These cover a range of SIMS, Reading Cloud and education related topics.

Read the latest schedule and how to register or check out previous webinars at support.capitasoftware.com.

To access recordings of previous webinars instantly, you'll need to provide your name and some school details. These will not be shared or used for marketing purposes.