IT improved for States Schools
STUDENTS and staff returning to States-maintained schools today should notice an improvement in IT, according to the director of education.
Schools were among the most badly affected institutions in the Bailiwick after servers were allowed to overheat in November, causing immediate and ongoing issues for the IT network.
However, Nick Hynes believes the problems will have been dealt with by the end of this year, and certain improvements have been made over the summer break.
‘Things have improved over the summer term with regards to that digital infrastructure that was in place at the end of last year,’ he said, ‘and we know that more work has happened over the summer.’
He said digital transformation was ‘one of the main cornerstones of the transforming education programme’.
‘By the end of 2023, all of our infrastructure – all the wires and cables in and out of schools – will have been replaced, and wifi will have been enhanced, so we’re confident,’ he said.
Continuous improvement would include the roll out of new devices for teachers ‘to enable them to develop teaching and learning’ and to ensure they can work more efficiently and effectively. An app known as SIMS, used to record attendance, has ‘fallen over’, he said. However, Mr Hynes gave a reassurance that this did not affect awareness of whether children were in or out of school, as previous recording methods were being used.
‘It’s a really significant safeguarding fact that we need to make sure we always know who is in and out of school, irrespective of whatever system we’re using,’ he said.
‘When things like that aren’t happening, we do record in a different way.’
