9 Technology Checks For The New School Term

The start of the September term puts immense pressure on a school or MAT's IT infrastructure. After a quiet summer, every device, account, and platform is thrown back into full use, quickly exposing any hidden system vulnerabilities. 

Below are nine areas of the technology estate worth reviewing now, while there's still time to act on what you find.

 Refresh your cyber security

September brings more account changes than any other point in the school year: new starters need access set up quickly, leavers from last term should have had their accounts closed over the summer, and role changes mean permissions that made sense in July may not make sense now. 

Each of these is a potential gap to close before someone else does.

Go back through user accounts and permissions and close anything that should have been switched off. Confirm devices and systems are patched. Check that multi-factor authentication (MFA) is enabled everywhere it should be, including accounts that are easy to overlook. Running a phishing simulation now shows you where staff need more support, before a real attempt reaches someone's inbox.

A successful cyberattack can bring teaching, learning and admin to a standstill, and recovering from one takes far longer than the checks that prevent it. Computeam Secure can review your cybersecurity and flag gaps early in the term.

 Streamline user management

Every September, IT teams work through the same cycle: creating new starters, closing leavers and adjusting role changes across every platform the school uses. Done manually, this takes time a small IT team can't easily spare during the busiest weeks of the year, and it's also how accounts get missed or left with the wrong permissions.

Automated synchronisation tools such as Salamander handle this without manual steps, creating, updating and removing accounts across your key platforms based on your MIS data. That ensures your user directory remains accurate and automatically reflects current enrollment.

 Added new devices over the summer?

If you've invested in new devices over the holidays, the real test is whether your network can cope when every classroom is using them at once. More devices mean more demand on your wireless network, and that demand tends to land all together in the first few weeks back, which is when a school can least afford problems.

Ask your visiting technician to review Wi-Fi performance, check network capacity, and flag any bottlenecks while there's still time to fix them.

Computeam Connect can review your network capacity and connectivity, with ongoing monitoring in place to catch problems before they impact the classroom.

 Check your backup and disaster recovery plans

A backup is only as valuable as your ability to restore it. Data is what keeps a school running day-to-day, from registers to safeguarding records: review your backup success rates, walk through the recovery procedures, confirm the business continuity plan still matches how the school operates now, and check your cyber recovery arrangements, since a ransomware incident behaves differently from ordinary data loss.

The critical question for school leaders is: if the worst happened tomorrow, how quickly could your school get back up and running, and does everyone involved know their part in that recovery?

 Review filtering and monitoring

Filtering and monitoring should be included in the same annual review as the rest of your safeguarding work. The latest Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) guidance is specific: a named senior leader is responsible for filtering and monitoring, working with the support of the designated safeguarding lead and IT, and reviews need to cover every internet-connected device across every site.

It's also worth checking the system isn't set too strictly. Filtering that's too strict causes problems of its own, blocking legitimate resources like PSHE materials or news coverage of current events, and KCSIE is explicit that filtering shouldn't unreasonably restrict teaching, learning or administration. A yearly audit is the most straightforward way to confirm your setup is doing its job properly, with evidence to back it up.

Computeam Secure supports schools with filtering, monitoring, and the evidence trail to back it up, including the DSL sign-off and annual review KCSIE expects.

 Prioritise staff digital CPD

A platform bought in July delivers little in October if staff haven't had the time or confidence to use it properly. The gaps are typically resolved through training, but generic, one-off sessions rarely close them on their own. 

Role-specific training will always yield the best results. Focus on targeted professional development by delivering platform refreshers for existing staff, digital skills training for those who need a boost, and AI awareness sessions for early adopters – all backed by comprehensive onboarding support for new starters.

Computeam's training programmes, delivered through Learning Locker, help schools build staff confidence through role-specific, bite-sized modules with simple admin reporting, so you get more value from technology you've already invested in.

 Review your AI approach

AI is already being used in classrooms and staff rooms, whether or not there's a policy in place. The task for school leaders now is to make sure that use is ethical, safe and properly governed: staff guidance, a clear view of the data protection implications, safeguarding considerations built in from the start and a specific use policy.

The Department for Education has published guidance on generative AI product safety, setting out how filtering and monitoring requirements extend to AI tools used by staff and pupils. AI now needs to sit inside the same governance as the rest of your safeguarding technology.

If you're not sure where to start, Computeam's AI Leadership Programme helps school leaders develop a clear, strategic and compliant approach to AI adoption – covering policy, data protection and staff guidance in one place.

 Test your critical systems

Systems tested in isolation over the summer don't always behave the same way under full use. MIS integrations, printing, telephony, classroom technology and cloud services depend on each other, and a fault in one often only shows up once everything else is running at the same time – usually the first few weeks of term.

Check each system properly now, while there's still time to fix what you find. Otherwise, the first sign of a problem tends to be a login failing in front of a class, or a register not syncing during a fire drill.

 Start the year with a digital strategy

Once the operational basics are covered, it's worth stepping back and asking a bigger question: does your technology support where you want your school or trust to be in three years? A clear roadmap covering cybersecurity, infrastructure, AI and digital transformation keeps every decision aligned with where the school wants to be, so progress adds up over time.

Computeam Compass gives schools and trusts a clear, evidence-based view of where they stand against all 12 of the DfE's digital and technology standards, with actions assigned and a trust-wide view for MATs, so you know what to prioritise next.