Classroom365 offers schools fast ICT response and assistance if an Ofsted inspection is announced. Are any of these scenarios relevant?
- An Ofsted inspection for your school has just been announced, and your existing ICT support company has let you down.
- Your ICT technician is off sick, and you need urgent support for an Ofsted inspection tomorrow!
- The school’s network is down, so you have no school broadband or access to files and resources critical for teaching ICT.
- Your school needs extra expert help for your existing ICT staff to resolve third-line support issues.
We have the resources and an expert ICT team on our helpdesk to get onsite quickly and help you prepare and support you for your short-notice Ofsted inspection.
We have compiled the following Ofsted ICT checklist for schools to help prepare schools and multi-academy trusts for any IT-related issues that arise. Please call us or complete the contact form below.
Ofsted ICT Checklist for Schools
If your school has had “the call”, then use this Ofsted checklist for schools to make sure your school’s ICT equipment and infrastructure is ready for the visit by the inspectors:
- Check your network server for disk space. Your incumbent ICT network support can easily overlook server disk space. If it runs out, you will not be able to save files, and everything will grind to a halt – no network access, no internet, and no printer management for the school’s network printers or photocopiers. If a drive fails, there is a severe risk of data loss, adding to your woes.
- Server hard drives need to be checked for warning lights, and backups for your school servers need checking. Print off backup reports and make sure all data is being backed up.
- Classroom365 recommends remote backup for servers, and a disaster recovery plan is in place for every school.
- Check that the network switches and Wi-Fi around the school are working perfectly and that the wireless access points are not powered down, unplugged, or faulty. Green lights are good!
- Unfortunately, you cannot prepare if a classroom’s interactive screen fails on inspection day. Still, you can ensure a spare laptop, USB, and HDMI cables are available, and the interactive software for every interactive whiteboard brand in the school is installed and ready for use.
- Broadband outages are uncommon (or should be!), but lesson plans or curriculum resources should be downloaded in preparation.
- Ensure your storage trolleys are plugged in, and any iPads, laptops, or classroom Chromebooks are connected so inspection day can start with fully charged mobile devices.
Ofsted Response - Urgent ICT Assistance
Following the above Ofsted inspection checklist for ICT should help you prepare and have peace of mind. You can read about Ofsted’s guide to good teaching of the computing curriculum by clicking here. Good luck!
Mark Friend, BSc (Hons), is a Company Director at Classroom365 and has worked in technology for nearly 30 years. His IT career started with Rothschild Bank in Sydney, Australia, before working as a Global VPN Project Manager for the British Council. Mark has 20 years of experience in the UK education sector, helping schools integrate the latest tech into their curriculum and ICT vision.