L.E.A.D. IT launches School IT on a Page app

L.E.A.D. IT Services has launched School IT on a Page, a cloud-hosted ICT governance platform built by our in-house education technology experts specifically for schools and multi academy trusts. It gives leaders, governors and auditors clear, evidenced assurance that technology standards are being met.

The DfE expects all schools and colleges to meet six core digital and technology standards by 2030: broadband internet, wireless networks, network switching, digital leadership and governance, filtering and monitoring, and cyber security. For academy trusts, the Academy Trust Handbook now states that trusts should understand these standards and be working towards meeting them. With 2030 approaching, school and trust leaders need a clear, evidenced picture of where each school stands today and what it will take to close the gaps.

Real-time dashboards can show how an ICT estate is running day to day. But governors, auditors and trust executives increasingly need more than operational visibility. They need proof that standards are being met, who met them and when. School IT on a Page was built to provide exactly that.

Assurance that stands up to scrutiny

School IT on a Page records the cyber assurance activity that governors and auditors ask about most often:

• penetration test records
• incident logs
• backup test results
• protection system status

All of it is held within a full, immutable audit trail. Every action is logged and every piece of evidence is kept. Granular role-based permissions mean each person sees what their role needs and nothing more, whether that’s a DSL in school, the trust CFO or the governing board.

Planning and procurement, not just compliance

Beyond compliance, the platform supports the financial and operational side of running ICT across a school or growing trust.

A five-year planning module lets leaders build costed, line-item ICT roadmaps. The roadmaps are broken down year by year, routed through multi-level approval and consolidated into a single trust-wide budget view. This gives finance teams and trustees the transparent, evidence-based planning they need, and helps map a realistic, funded route to meeting the core standards by 2030.

A subscriptions and procurement module holds an approved tools catalogue with GDPR and DPIA documentation. It also keeps a per-school subscription register and offers one-click quote requests, so every procurement decision is transparent, compliant and auditable.

Oversight at the click of a button

One-click reports give schools and trusts instant oversight of standards compliance, cyber assurance and subscription tracking. Leaders can produce a clear, up-to-date picture for a governors’ meeting, a trust board or an audit in seconds, without pulling information together by hand. Because every report draws on the evidence and audit trail already held in the platform, the figures are consistent, current and ready to stand up to scrutiny.

Modular and ready to grow

The platform is fully modular and needs no local installation. Each school turns on only the modules it needs now and can add more over time. This makes it suitable for a single school, a small trust or a large and growing one.

“The DfE’s expectations are clear: every school needs to meet the core digital and technology standards by 2030, alongside strong cyber assurance. But tracking and evidencing that progress has been far too difficult,” said Lee Jepson, Director of IT at L.E.A.D. IT Services, who led the design and development of the platform. “School IT on a Page shows leaders, governors and auditors exactly where every school stands against those expectations, what’s been done and what’s next, all in one place.“