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Embark Federation Academy Trust
Trust-Wide IT Transformation across 29 Schools
From fragmented systems to one joined-up platform: how L.E.A.D. IT Services transformed technology and IT for education across all 29 Embark Federation schools together.
Embark Federation partnered with L.E.A.D. IT Services to deliver one of the most ambitious trust-wide IT transformations either organisation has undertaken – uniting 29 schools, from four secondaries to twenty-five primary, junior, infant and nursery schools, onto a single, secure and consistent digital foundation.
What began as ad hoc support for individual schools in 2021 has grown into a full strategic ICT partnership spanning every one of Embark’s schools, from Aldercar High School in Nottinghamshire to Horsley Woodhouse Primary School in Derbyshire and Parkside Community School in Chesterfield.
The result is a trust that has moved from fragmented, inconsistent systems to a genuinely joined-up digital environment – described by Embark’s own leadership as ‘light years ahead’ of where it stood three years ago.
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Schools transformed
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Unified digital platform
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Months to migrate
The Challenge
When L.E.A.D. IT Services began working more closely with Embark Federation, there was no real consistency across the trust’s schools. Each school operated its own, separate Microsoft 365 tenancy, with its own systems and its own level of investment – and huge variation in how well placed individual schools were to meet new DfE compliance and Risk Protection Arrangement requirements. Years of inconsistent investment, compounded by the disruption of the pandemic, had left many schools running on ageing infrastructure that was, in places, simply limping along.
The stakes were higher than convenience. Government data shows that education institutions are more likely than the average UK business to have identified a cyber security breach or attack in the past 12 months, affecting roughly one in ten primary schools and a third of secondary schools. For a growing, community-focused trust with big ambitions for its schools, fragmented and ageing IT wasn’t just inefficient – it was a genuine risk.
Embark also faced a funding reality common to many multi-academy trusts; a modest central top-slice rather than fully pooled school budgets, meaning any transformation of this scale had to be funded creatively, in partnership, rather than simply written into a single central budget line.
Our Solution
Tackling a challenge like this meant more than a single upgrade – it meant rebuilding Embark’s entire digital foundation, school by school, without a single classroom feeling the disruption. Under Embark’s Core Support Service agreement, L.E.A.D. now delivers everything from server backups and network connectivity to financial systems, safeguarding and cyber response planning.
Here’s how the transformation actually happened…
Migrating 29 Schools onto One Microsoft 365 Tenancy
The headline project was a full tenancy migration. Where every Embark school had previously operated its own individually configured Microsoft 365 environment – some very mature, long-established set-ups – L.E.A.D. IT brought all 29 onto a single, unified tenancy, completed in around a year.
That single change unlocked capabilities that simply weren’t possible before; a new SharePoint-based attendance toolkit, for example, is now used by senior leadership teams across every school, with integrated workbooks that didn’t exist as a trust-wide resource until the migration was complete.
Delivering that scale of technical change without disrupting a single lesson meant carrying out the bulk of the work overnight, at weekends and through school holidays – a deliberate choice by L.E.A.D. to protect teaching time.
Funding a Five-Year Infrastructure Plan
Alongside the migration, Embark needed a full hardware refresh – devices and interactive whiteboards across every school, replacing kit that had reached the end of its useful life. Funding that at trust-wide scale, without a fully pooled central budget, took a genuinely collaborative financial plan; a blend of individual school budgets, DFC contributions and the trust’s own capital funding, structured as a five-year investment plan rather than a single one-off spend.
Under the same Core Support Service agreement, L.E.A.D. also plans and delivers trust-wide strategic IT across servers, AV and hardware, print management, telecoms, mobile and broadband, financial management and HR systems support, and Power BI reporting – with rolling three-to-five-year infrastructure planning built in as standard, not an afterthought.
Built with schools, not imposed on them
None of this was delivered from the outside in. The whole project was co-constructed with schools – structured planning sessions ran over an 18-month window, with a deliberate ‘foundations first’ approach that prioritised security and consistent infrastructure before anything else was layered on top. That way of working is only possible, Embark’s own leadership has said, because the people doing it understand education, not just IT: L.E.A.D. IT Services is itself part of L.E.A.D. Academy Trust, and its founder and Managing Director, Lee Jepson, along with much of the senior team, has a genuine background working in schools. It shows up in the day-to-day relationship too – every Embark school has its own dedicated, on-site L.E.A.D. engineer, a familiar, consistent presence who knows its systems, its staff and its setup, rather than a rotating helpdesk team.
Cyber Security & Safeguarding across every school
Consistency wasn’t just about convenience – it was about risk. Government data shows education institutions are more likely than the average UK business to have identified a cyber security breach or attack in the past 12 months, and Embark’s Core Support Service now includes a dedicated cyber response and development plan, sign-in system support, e-safety systems and guidance, and door access control and CCTV guidance across the Trust.
L.E.A.D. also manages device and cyber security for the schools’ iPad fleets, and has built a bespoke system to safely analyse student data – giving Embark confidence that its safeguarding obligations are met consistently, whichever school a pupil, parent or member of staff walks into.
Beyond the Core Contract: Added-Value Services
L.E.A.D.’s belief that IT support shouldn’t stop at the helpdesk shows up in what Embark’s schools get access to beyond the core agreement. That includes the Loan Kit Initiative – giving pupils hands-on access to VR headsets and 3D printers without any capital outlay – on-site event support for open evenings and award ceremonies, website development and support, and Canva for Education training for staff.
A trust-wide intranet and telephony system, and a new communications strategy Embark’s leadership credits directly to L.E.A.D., round out a partnership that extends well past a typical managed-service contract.
"They go above and beyond in supporting schools… and that's not because of any reason other than that they care so much. That is unique, I would say, in terms of any partner organisations I've ever worked with in schools."
Ben Riggott, Embark Federation
The Outcome
Embark schools now benefit from a consistent, fully connected and future-ready IT environment.
Uniting 29 schools onto a single, secure platform
One Microsoft 365 tenancy replacing 29 individually configured, fragmented systems – delivered within around a year.
Protecting every minute of teaching time
Migrations were carried out overnight, at weekends and through school holidays, so lessons were never disrupted.
Strengthening security and safeguarding trust-wide
Cyber response planning, device security and consistent safeguarding support embedded across all 29 schools.
A dedicated, familiar presence in every school
Every Embark school has its own on-site L.E.A.D. engineer who knows its systems, staff and setup.
The Results
More than a technical upgrade, the project has given Embark Federation a stable, coherent digital foundation to build on — replacing years of fragmentation with a trust-wide system that finally feels genuinely joined up.
I’d say, in a word: coherence. Our experience of the education sector has often been characterised by fragmentation — but when it comes to our digital environment now, that does feel genuinely joined up. It’s light years ahead of where it was three years ago, when this project started.
Ben Riggott, Embark Federation
That confidence is echoed at board level.
We have an excellent relationship with L.E.A.D. IT Services, and I’d like to thank them for their hard work and professionalism. We are aware of the increase in cyber attacks on education providers and have full confidence in the service provided by L.E.A.D. IT Services.
Matt Crawford, CEO, Embark Federation
And from L.E.A.D.’s own side, the relationship is one Lee Jepson is equally quick to credit.
It has been a smooth process working with Embark Federation and we look forward to building on this relationship. We have created an IT strategy for them with the goal of enhancing organisational functions and learning outcomes for all.
Lee Jepson, Managing Director, L.E.A.D. IT Services
This project reflects L.E.A.D. IT Services’ approach to trust-wide partnerships; combining infrastructure, security and genuine day-to-day relationships into a single, coherent programme – helping large, multi-academy trusts like Embark reduce complexity, manage risk, and give every school, whatever its size, the same reliable foundation to build on.
FAQs
For Embark, it means a single Core Support Service agreement covering everything from Office 365 and server backups to network connectivity, financial and HR systems support, sign-in systems, e-safety, cyber response planning and three-to-five-year infrastructure planning – delivered consistently across every school in the trust, backed by a dedicated on-site engineer at each one.
For Embark’s 29 schools, migrating from 29 separate, individually configured tenancies onto a single unified environment took around a year – carried out overnight, at weekends and through school holidays specifically to avoid any disruption to teaching time.
Embark’s investment was structured as a five-year plan blending individual school budgets, DFC contributions and the Trust’s own capital funding – proof that scale and consistency are achievable even within a modest central top-slice.
L.E.A.D. IT Services is itself part of L.E.A.D. Academy Trust, and much of its senior team – including founder and Managing Director Lee Jepson – has a genuine background working in schools, which shapes an approach built with schools rather than imposed on them.
With the infrastructure foundations now largely in place, the focus is shifting to the next phase – exploring how technology can go further to support teaching and learning, alongside the deeper impact measurement both organisations are continuing to develop together.
