Overview
Wingham & Preston schools are two federated primary schools in Kent overseen by the executive headteacher.
In 2017 they engaged SNS to support and maintain their IT systems and currently they subscribe to the following services from SNS:
- Curriculum Support – A combination of On-site and Remote
- Admin Support
- Broadband and Filtering
- Monitored Offsite Backup
- Supply and installation of IT Hardware – Wireless, Server, Interactive Touchscreens and Data Cabling
Challenges
In 2017 both schools were looking for advice on how to improve the performance and reliability of their aging Curriculum and Admin IT network.
They both realized that investment was needed to improve the efficiency if the IT function however, they were unsure of where to start.
Solutions
During 2017 both Wingham & Prestion asked SNS to provide on-site and remote Curriculum IT support for ½ day per week to resolve some urgent issues within their IT system.
As part of this service SNS also provided the schools with an account manager who, along with their technician produced an action plan, broken down into priorities, to help the school invest in the most necessary areas first.
Following this plan, both schools asked SNS to install new servers at each site of which were the priority and this change bought both schools up to a standard where a solid IT foundation could be built upon.
Over the period of a couple of years both schools continued to follow their IT Plans of which included the following works undertaken by SNS:
- Uninterruptible power supplies installed at each site
- Monitored offsite backup implemented at both sites
- Cloud Email system implemented at both sites
- Remote access ability for all staff enabled at each site
- School wide wireless system installed at Wingham
- Broadband and filtering supplied to both schools
- Interactive touchscreens were supplied and installed throughout each site on a rolling replacement basis
- Laptops were supplied and configured for both Pupil, Teacher and Admin users
Outcomes
To date, both Wingham & Preston have followed their IT plans produced by SNS which has allowed them to trust their IT systems and they are used to their systems working reliably.
SNS continues to provide support to both schools of which not only means their IT systems continue to perform but also allows each school to understand when any necessary expenditure is needed, usually years in advance of when the project would be needed.
“We are delighted with the support we receive across our federation of two primary schools from our SNS technician. He is totally unflappable which, alongside his expert knowledge, flexibility and professionalism mean that he responds to any request swiftly. Staff feel very confident to approach him with any questions. As leaders, we know that we are in safe hands. Our IT provision and infrastructure has been significantly improved since we entered into our contract with SNS”
Wingham & Preston Schools
