Digital Services

MIS Team Corner

Welcome to Our New Team Members! We are excited to welcome two new members of staff to join the MIS Team. Daniel and Kevin both have a wealth of experience in the education sector and are passionate about helping schools and other educational institutions to make the most of their MIS systems. Daniel has over …

We Need to Talk About Attendance

It’s well known that following the pandemic, many schools in England have found it incredibly challenging to encourage pupils back into the classroom. The DfE published updated guidance in May to support schools and local authorities in driving up school attendance titled Improving school attendance: support for schools and local authorities. Many of their recommendations …

1:1 Device Ratio: A Fad or the Future?

The pandemic has significantly changed life and schools have had to adapt in the way they deliver teaching and learning. Discussions around having 1:1 devices have been around since long before the pandemic, as far back as the 1990s in some schools. With the number of manufacturers offering exceptional value on devices and the pandemic …

COVID – What’s really happening in schools

Throughout the pandemic, the DfE has been collecting data on COVID infections in schools and sharing this with local authorities. This data is reported directly by schools via the Department for Education’s daily education settings survey. It is not the primary source of data on infection, incidence, and COVID-19 cases overall but it continues to …

What is Web Accessibility and Why Does it Matter?

Web accessibility is the practice of making sure a website can be accessed and used by as many people as possible. Having a lovely website that showcases your school is essential these days and you should feel confident that anyone can visit and enjoy your website regardless of visual, motor, auditory, or cognitive ability. These …

Remote Learning: An End to Snow Days?

The pandemic has seen a fundamental change in the way education has been delivered in the UK for the past year. Whilst some schools or education establishments have delivered lessons remotely for some time, the mainstream education system was all about face-to-face lessons, with ratios ranging anywhere from 1 to 1 up to 1 to …

How Secure is Your School Website?

Website hacking is an issue for all websites, not just big corporations, banks and government departments. We often see articles in the media about hackers making targeted attacks on large companies and governments to steal money and information or for ideological reasons (known as hacktivism) but schools, individuals and small organisations are also at threat …

IT Security: Top tips

This Guest Editorial is by Jamie Charlton, Sales Director of Sharp Business Systems UK. As technology continues to advance, and as schools and students become increasingly more dependent on internet-ready devices, cybercrime is becoming more difficult to both deal with, and avoid. The Department for Education now specifies that school managers, governors, and head teachers …