Pioneering Primary School Abolishes Behaviour Charts
A Shropshire school says it has gone through a ‘paradigm shift’ in a bid to halt child shaming. Textbooks, childhood experts, and even many parents will tell you that children need consequences for their actions, and that it’s only through these that they learn to distinguish right from wrong. Consequences, they’ll tell us, help shape little minds to grow into well-rounded individuals, with a good dose of moral fibre. Indeed, schools up and down the country still rely on consequence-based tools like behaviour charts. A beautiful mural of a rainbow lighting up a sunny sky may at first glance seem like a cheerful classroom image, but look more closely and you’ll see that beneath that splash of bright colour lies a much greyer and more sombre backdrop depicting storm clouds. Imagine being that child whose marker has slipped down into those storm clouds, lurking sad and lonely in the murky depths of shame for everybody to see. It’s perhaps understandable then that some children develop a wholly inaccurate (but sadly sometimes deep-rooted) belief that they are somehow a ‘bad’ child. A belief that can become their ‘truth’ and can colour their attitude and approach across their entire school career. Always keen to find new (and better) ways of doing things, St. George’s Primary School, based in Telford, Shropshire, recently turned their own behaviour policy on its head and made the bold decision to implement an innovative new approach, underpinned by positive psychology and collective rewards school-wide. It’s a move which is already paying dividends according to Kath Watts, Deputy Head of St George’s School. She explained: “We built the new policy on the foundations of our ongoing work around trauma-informed practice, and it has an unwavering focus on inclusivity; physical, cultural, and neurological diversity; and an absolute avoidance of shame. “We knew that we were onto something special when a consulting educational psychologist who visited us recently referred to it as a ‘paradigm shift’ moment. “A lot of groundwork went into the policy courtesy of our early years teacher Lindsey Garroway, our SENDCo Holly Evans and our Senior Middle Leader Clare Holt, and we spoke deeply and candidly with our children about how they felt when their name moved down the behavioural chart. “We were given answers like ‘I felt naughty but sad’ and ‘It made me feel upset because normally I’m not bad that I know of, it made me feel like I was bad’. “The more we explored, the more shame-inducing we realised the charts were and so we abolished them with immediate effect. “Instead, we introduced a more collaborative approach with our Behaviour Stars System. Classes now work collaboratively to earn whole class rewards based on the number of stars they collect as a team. Stars are added to a behaviour app, and the children are also given stickers as an individual reward. “Whole class rewards are discussed and chosen by the children in the class, and can include things like a movie afternoon or a class party. Once the children have worked together to earn 500 stars they achieve their whole class reward, the system then resets for that class and they work on choosing and earning their next reward, ideally one per half term. “This system not only removes any shame-inducing element, but promotes teamwork – encouraging responsibility and accountability in a positive way. “Initial feedback has been incredibly positive with teaching staff reporting that children love to see the stars being added to the app and their class total increasing. It has been praised as a great team motivator – encouraging the children to work together. Children were also able to clearly recall what they did to be awarded the behaviour stars, suggesting a positive pupil engagement with the system. “Other classroom recognition we have put into place has had an equally positive impact. These include special awards such as a Values Award, Reader of the Week, and Postcards and/or texts sent home to parents to celebrate pupils’ success. “A ‘Wanted – Praise on Sight’ poster makes it easy for other teaching staff and even a child’s peers to reinforce their positive behaviour, and the ‘We Can Do It’ board provides additional encouragement. There are also a number of public recognition awards presented in Assembly, such as Class Star of the Week, Certificates, and Special Mentions Certificates. “The positive behaviour being encouraged is represented with visual prompts displayed on the classroom boards, along with reminders of values. At the start of sessions children are positively reminded of expectations, and non-verbal signals are used to help them stay on track. “If and when a derailing does occur, children of course need consequences. But these have also undergone a revamp and teaching staff have been given fresh guidance on how to encourage pupils to consider how best to make ‘good choices’. Language is all from the positive and categorically avoids the use of shaming language. “The approach often starts with a quiet word (with a friendly open face and body language), moving seats, or sitting a child with an adult who knows how to address the behaviour. “Natural consequences occur if matters escalate, with time taken to practise skills, feedback to parents when deemed necessary, and a ‘Reflect and Reset’ written reflection task provides a purposeful learning opportunity (and is never used as an isolation exercise). “For repeated or persistent examples of low-level inappropriate behaviour we have systems such as ‘Time In’ – instead of ‘Time Out’ – which offers time to reflect with a trusted adult outside of the classroom environment, to enable restorative conversations to occur in a safe and calm manner. “Behaviour Support Plans can be put into place where necessary – written by all parties including the child, teacher, parents, inclusion team and/or SLT – and will be monitored by a senior member of staff, and an Early Help Plan may be considered. “Where there is level two behaviour displayed – more serious incidents or continued persistent examples of inappropriate behaviour
Helping children rediscover the joy of writing
A new writing curriculum for primary school children has been launched today (Wednesday 19th June 2024) to help pupils fall in love with writing while improving their skills, which have been adversely affected by the pandemic. The percentage of children reaching the expected standard in writing by the end of Key Stage 2 decreased to 71% in 2023, down from 78% in 2019. As a result, one in three 11-year-olds left primary school last year unable to write at the expected level. The DfE and Ofsted is now focused on tackling the fall in standards. ESSENTIALWRITING, created by HFL Education (formerly Herts for Learning), helps primary school children understand and enjoy the craft of writing. The material enables teachers to look at the curriculum with fresh eyes and impact learning by offering: HFL Education Primary English Advisor Michelle Nicholson said: “We want children to fall in love with writing again – Research by the National Literacy Trust found that only 34.6% of children and young people aged between 8-18 enjoyed writing in their free time, but those that did were more likely to do better in school and throughout life. “We want to ensure children have a voice and a choice as they are developing their writing skills at school, so that they may be more likely to choose to write for pleasure at home which will improve their written skills even more. In the same way as if we support children to read well and read with enjoyment at school, they will read independently at home. All of this improves confidence and life skills in other areas. “Sadly, many children missed out on developing their skills and appreciation of writing during the pandemic. Writing skills are difficult to teach remotely so many younger children missed out on learning vital foundational skills during lockdown. For older children, the shift to online classwork meant physical writing skills weren’t practised as much as they would have been in the classroom. The cumulative effect has been significant gaps in literacy and language skills.” HFL Education ran over 20 pilot schemes for the new ESSENTIALWRITING curriculum across a variety of schools in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and London, and they showed real impact. Both children and teachers were measurably more confident around the subject, and children were excited about writing and taking pride in their work. Mrs Danni Hawtree, English subject leader, St Paul’s Walden Primary School, one of the schools that ran the pilot, said: “The quality and quantity of the work has massively improved. The children have enjoyed the English lessons and the range of different themes. They loved writing for a real purpose and were excited to receive a response and see the impact of their writing. The units are enjoyable to teach because it’s clear and easy with the prompts and models in child-friendly language.” HFL Education’s ESSENTIALWRITING curriculum covers the National Curriculum and is designed for years 1 to 6. They will learn to write for a variety of purposes including creating stories and poems, capturing biography and putting together persuasive letters, with an understanding of audiences and purposes. For more information about ESSENTIALWRITING or for further advice about how to enhance your school’s primary English offer, please visit www.hfleducation.org/school-improvement/primary/english
Is a Smartphone Free Childhood the answer to our nation’s smartphone addiction? I’d say no.
By Mark Saxby – Positive Social When two Surrey mums made it big with their campaign to stop children and smartphones mixing, the UK’s media got very excited about it. Not that it was a new idea. One of my friends had already agreed a smartphone-free arrangement among a group ofparents in their Scottish primary school. They had all decided they would hold off giving their children devices. Wonderful. Inspired, I tried the same thing in my daughter’s primary school. The Year 5 dads were all in a WhatsApp group. I suggested us all holding off on smartphones until our children went to secondary school. I was largely met by silence except for one dad who said he and his wife had already given their nine-year-old boy his brother’s old smartphone and they were confident he’d be sensible. There lies the problem – while some parents, like the Surrey mums and my Scottish friend, recognise their children shouldn’t be on social media at such a young age, many other parentseither just don’t understand the dangers or have the capacity in their lives to even consider them. Some children will have smartphones and others won’t. And then the well-meaning parents will face immense pressure to buckle. As one mum said: “My son will be a social pariah if he doesn’t have a phone.” I’m not saying that the campaign for a Smartphone Free Childhood is a waste of time. For starters, it’s helped many parents see there is another way. And the more children without a smartphone, the better. But I believe the answer is in education, not a ban. The majority of time spent on phones by young people is spent using social media. Our charity, Positive Social, has run sessions with thousands of young people in classrooms across the country. We don’t tell the students to come off social media. Instead, we help them understand that social media is addictive; that misuse could damage their now and their future; and that they can enjoy life more if they spend less time on their phones. Ultimately, we give them the permission to make a choice – to have a different relationship with social media and their phones. And they make amazing commitments to change. They say they’ll: • Leave WhatsApp groups where they’re bullying other children. • Delete the Instagram app because it’s making them sad. • Spend more time with their parents because they’re more important. • Leave TikTok because it’s washing their mind. • Stop taking their phone to bed with them. We find that young people don’t want to be on social media as much as they are. They’ve just been allowed by their parents to spend time on their phones without boundaries. Many of them confess they just don’t feel good when spending an excessive amount of time on social media. Some schools we visit report a drop in social media issues. Other schools run our free follow-up Social Ambassadors programme so social media stays on the agenda. Of course, there are some children who won’t follow through on their commitments. Or they’ll forget about them. Or they just won’t be able to resist the pull of social media. After all, doctors liken our addiction to it as that suffered by crack cocaine users. But the childrenwill never forget our sessions – or that there’s a different way of looking at social media. Will they ever go smartphone free? I doubt it. If us adults can’t manage it, then why should we expect our children to. But it’s definitely time to empower our children to choose a different type of relationship with social media and their phones. Mark Saxby is one of the founders of the Positive Social charity, a national organisation which runs interactive classroom sessions in primary and secondary schools. You can find out more at https://positivesocial.org.uk/
Taskmaster star Alex Horne to host the Tes Schools Awards 2024
The biggest event in the education calendar is back, the Tes School Awards 2024, with the creator and co-host of BAFTA and National Comedy Award-winning hit TV show, Taskmaster, Alex Horne, and he’s bringing his six-piece band, ‘The Horne Section’ with him. Dubbed ‘the Oscars of Education’, the Tes Schools Awards celebrates excellence across the UK’s education sector, bringing together both State and Independent schools in one glamorous evening event in London. This year looks set to be the finest year yet, with a high level of entrants across all 21 categories. The panel of independent judges, made up of leaders from across the world of education, have already remarked that the quality and calibre of nominations at this stage is making their job a tough one. Alex Horne said, “As a former child who was taught by at least some excellent teachers, it’s an honour and a contractual obligation to be hosting this year’s Tes Schools Awards. I’ll have my band with me and they all ‘studied jazz’ at university so there are enormous gaps in their education that will hopefully be filled one day, and maybe this will be that day.” Time is running out to get secured Earlybird tickets. This year the Tes Schools Awards take place on Friday 21st June 2024 at the Grosvenor Hotel, Park Lane, London, and will be attended by many of the nominated teachers from across the UK. READ MORE QA EDUCATION NEWS: 8 ways to set an effective school budget Attendees will also get to watch an excerpt of the Lion King performed by the Disney Theatrical Group. Come celebrate the best in education with us and Alex Horne, The Horne Section, and the Disney Theatrical Group. Earlybird tickets for the event are available here. To find out more about the Tes Schools Awards, please visit Tes Schools Awards | Tes
Barnardo’s Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies: The PATH to Success
The PATHS® Programme for Schools (UK/NI Version) The PATHS® Programme for Schools (UK/NI Version) promotes the positive mental health and well-being of children in pre-schools and primary schools across the UK. With its roots in the US, it’s now taking the UK by storm! Since 2008, the programme has grown from being in just 6 schools in Northern Ireland, to now being delivered in almost 500 (497) schools and pre-schools across in Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. Barnardo’s team of specialist SEL coaches support settings over a 4-year period to implement high-quality evidence based social emotional learning. Through specialist training and ongoing coaching support, schools and pre-schools are well supported to deliver the programme with fidelity. Key to the success and sustainability of the programme is embedding a whole-school approach to SEL; and our coaching team support schools to do just that! From supporting classroom delivery to generating cross-curricular links; from training school staff to training parents & playground supervisors; and from supporting with SEL themes outside of the classroom (e.g. assembly, playground games etc) and within core policies – we have you covered to fully place the PATHS® Programme at the heart of your school. With positive outcomes not only for behaviour, attention & concentration, and social emotional competencies, but also improvements in the wider school ethos and environment – it’s easy to see why teachers, parents and pupils all love the PATHS® Programme. This year, 18 schools and 6 pre-schools across the UK have also achieved ‘SEL Worldwide Model School Status’ – an award which recognises the high-quality whole-school implementation of the programme, and their commitment to embed the programme in all aspects of the school day – and beyond!. In total, 93 establishments have received this accolade through Barnardo’s and SEL Worldwide. “We applied to take part in the PATHS® Programme because we felt that it offered a more structured whole -school approach, especially towards dealing with emotions and anger management strategies. We wanted a programme that offered a common language and approach for everyone to use with the children i.e. teachers, non-teaching staff, lunch time supervisors etc. We also felt that the PATHS® initiative gave every child the vocabulary and opportunities to express their feelings and provided them with clear strategies to use when they were upset.” (In School Coordinator, N Ireland School) “The PATHS® Programme through Barnardo’s has brought so much to our school, and we cannot now imagine life without its principles firmly embedded into our everyday practice. Our children love the familiarity of the programme’s approach and it is an absolute joy to see them not only applying the strategies themselves, but also teaching them to their families at home.” (Head Teacher, St Helens School) “Through the programme we have been able to empower our youngest learners to develop these key skills including social problem solving, self-control, emotional understanding, peer relations and self-esteem which will hopefully enable them to make positive choices in their future lives.” (Setting Manager, Pembrokeshire Pre-School)
Rebuilding RAAC schools with energy efficiency in mind
With most school buildings having a typical lifespan of about 80 years, opportunities to build schools with a responsible design from the outset – rather than retrofitting – are few and far between. The Government’s recent announcement that 119 schools in England need to be rebuilt due to the reinforced autoclave aerated concrete (RAAC) crisis presents us with one of these rare opportunities. While retrofitting is a brilliant solution for the vast majority of schools, there’s no substitute for buildings that have been designed with energy efficiency firmly in mind. It’s no secret that schools across the country are facing rocketing energy bills. Figures from the Department for Education show that, in England, local authority-maintained schools spent 61% more on energy in the year 2022-23 than the previous year. And the quality of school building stock is also poor when it comes to energy performance, with one fifth of all school buildings in England possessing an Energy Performance Certificate of E, F or G – the lowest ratings it’s possible to achieve. Little wonder, then, that net-zero consultancy The Carbon Trust has estimated that UK schools could reduce their energy costs by around £44m each year. While there’s a whole host of interior upgrades that can be made, from installing more efficient LED lighting and heating and ventilation systems, the shell of school buildings themselves should be made to work as hard as possible. READ MORE: QA EDUCATION NEWS At Project Solar, we believe it would be a glaring oversight, for example, if renewable energy sources were not an integral part of all 119 school rebuilds. Solar panels are such an obvious and logical place to start when it comes to reducing dependence on grid electricity. Research from property consultancy Barker suggests that schools can generate approximately 25% of their electricity from on-site solar PV systemsalone. Evidence shows that where schools have already installed solar panels, they’re quickly reaping the benefits, both financially and environmentally. Hammersmith Academy in Shepherds Bush, for example, installed over 400 solar panels last summer and is on track to cut its electricity bills by 20% in the first year post-installation. At the same time, the Academy is saving 32 tonnes of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere, which is the equivalent to approximately 1,500 trees being planted. And solar panels are not just a money-saving measure for schools, but potentially a money-making one too. Exporting renewable energy that they haven’t used back to the grid could generate a steady income stream for schools. So, I would urge us not to be short-sighted when rebuilding our schools, and to recognise the long-term benefits that renewables adoption can bring. The recent announcement of new funding pots could help those 119 RAAC schools to finance that, as well as opening up retrofitting opportunities for existing school buildings. Last week the Government announced £530 million of funding for low carbon heating and energy savings for schools, hospital and other public buildings. Tapping into funding via the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme should be high on the priority list for all schools. By getting it right with these 119 RAAC rebuilds, we can have 119 examples of best practise when it comes to energy efficiency that future school rebuilds can be modelled on. Ultimately the transition to net-zero will require the entire school real estate portfolio in the UK to upgrade, but the RAAC rebuilds are a great place to really build momentum on the isolated pockets of schools dotted around the country that already have solar panels. By Simon Peat – CEO of Project Solar, the UK’s largest solar panel installer
The Future Of Digital GCSE Exams In Our Schools
Last autumn, England’s largest examination board for GCSE exams, AQA, revealed its intention for pupils to sit their GCSE exams partly digitally in at least one major subject by 2030. By Adam Speight, acting Assistant Headteacher and content creator for Access Education. The announcement, intended to ‘allow young people to use their digital skills’, set the wheels in motion for a series of developments which leave little doubt that digital assessment will become a key part of our education system. Just a few months ago, AQA subsequently launched a free digital maths test to help teachers work out why some students are struggling with the subject. Aimed at Key Stage 3 students and those preparing for a maths GCSE resit, the on-screen test reacts to the answers a student gives, powered by ‘adaptive technology’. Similar tests, which assess and help improve students’ knowledge through instantaneous, automated feedback, are already being used in schools up and down the country. They provide early insight into the impact of widespread digital test adoption – and, crucially, what lessons can be learnt from the results. Data-driven insights Earlier this year, data from over 80,000 GCSE students, who collectively answered over 6 million questions through digital assessments, formed the basis of GCSEPod’s Knowledge and Confidence Gap Analysis Report 2023/24. It helped to pinpoint the exact areas where students currently struggle across a range of subjects, including Maths, English and Science. Recalling and correctly applying formulae (66.7% incorrect attempts) and dividing fractions (62.9% incorrect attempts) were revealed as the areas of foundational knowledge students struggled with in Maths, following news that pass rates have fallen for GCSE maths resits this year. Meanwhile, in English Language, students have faced difficulty understanding how to use apostrophes and quotation marks (69.1% incorrect attempts), with basic punctuation an area of low confidence nationwide. In Combined Science, the commonality of errors relating to equations and data could mean that inadequate understanding of mathematical skills and process may be affecting both confidence and attainment. Overcoming areas of difficulty Through understanding where students’ knowledge is lacking and misconceptions are frequent, teachers can focus their efforts in these areas, implementing easy solutions such as recapping lessons or undertaking targeted revision sessions. While many teachers gain this understanding through traditional pen and paper marking methods, digital tests can help predict what areas a cohort will struggle with before they do, based on the vast amount of data from the year before. Digital tests also help to alleviate teacher workload here – a clear advantage when teaching commitments and administrative tasks often leave very little time for lesson planning. And, as the teacher recruitment and retention crisis shows no signs of subsiding and increasing numbers of schools have to use non-specialist teachers, digital tests can assist in alleviating shortcomings in teacher knowledge. Structured feedback helps provide both learners and teachers with additional support. It can be a challenge to pry digitally-savvy students away from their phones, but digital tests are also an effective way of helping to ‘meet students where they are’, not to mention more inclusive. They help those who can type faster than they can write, while alleviating the need to worry about how your writing looks. For those, like myself, who are dyslexic, this is particularly helpful. From the classroom to the exam hall Though digital exams remain a vision of the near future, it’s clear there is an appetite building. A 2022 TeacherTapp survey of nearly 4000 secondary teachers, found that 75% of teachers believed that on-screen assessment would be a good thing, if challenges such as access to technology are addressed effectively. With such concerns valid, a clear way forward is to focus on incorporating digital tests into everyday learning now, familiarising students with best practice and introducing the correct infrastructure into classrooms. Digital exams will likely never fully replace traditional written examination, with a hybrid approach keeping in place the benefits of both. The positive impact of this is being seen in our schools already and with technology only advancing, it’s an exciting area to watch. To find out more about GCSEPod’s Knowledge Gap report, visit https://www.theaccessgroup.com/en-gb/education/resources/where-in-england-has-the-biggest-gcse-knowledge-gap/
Competition regulator to investigate UK’s largest education software firm ESS
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating whether ESS has broken the law by taking action to prevent schools from switching to a new management information system provider. Management information systems are important databases used to handle student information, such as attendance and safeguarding, and most UK schools are required to have these databases in place. Education Software Solutions Ltd (ESS) is the largest provider of these systems in the UK, with approximately a 50% share of the market in England, and even higher in Wales and Northern Ireland. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has received complaints from a number of ESS’s customers suggesting the firm is making it difficult for them to switch to a new provider. These schools reported they had been warned by ESS that they would not be able to share a copy of their database with a new provider, as doing so would breach ESS’s intellectual property rights. The CMA understands that sharing database back-up copies is a longstanding and widespread practice used in the sector for data transfer of this kind and, without it, the CMA is concerned that schools’ ability to move to a new provider would be severely hampered. While some means of switching are permitted by the company, they are reportedly complex, time consuming and error prone. Moreover, schools and competitors reported that ESS had objected to the alternative solutions put forward to enable the extraction of their data. The CMA will be investigating ESS to determine whether or not the law has been breached. As part of this, the CMA will consider whether it needs to impose interim measures to prevent harm from occurring while it carries out its investigation. If the allegations against ESS are found to be true, such behaviour could be a breach competition law. Juliette Enser, Interim Executive Director of Competition Enforcement, said: “We’re concerned about the complaints we’ve received regarding ESS’s alleged behaviour. As such, we’ll be investigating their conduct with urgency to get to the bottom of the matter. “Management information systems are an integral part of protecting schools’ data, reducing costs, and safeguarding students. It’s essential that schools are able to pick the most appropriate system for their needs – and change providers with ease when their contract is up.” In 2022, ESS offered the CMA commitments following a review to determine whether the company was using its dominant position in the market to push schools into accepting new 3-year contracts, where previously they had run for just one year. The binding commitments enabled eligible schools to exit early from their 3-year contract, and the CMA continues to monitor ESS’s compliance with these commitments. The CMA’s new concerns in relation to ESS’s conduct focus on a different possible abuse of dominance and are therefore the subject of a separate investigation. A spokesperson for ESS, said: “We are extremely surprised at this sudden announcement by the CMA, which overlooks the fact that there are legitimate methods of migrating data from SIMS to the systems provided by our competitors. Guidance on these methods has long been available and we have made multiple communications to competitors, customers (and their support providers) explaining this. “That some competitors have chosen to ignore these methods and have instead created a “workaround” that accesses our core code, is the only abuse in this situation. “It simply cannot be correct that the only way to sustain a competitive market is for one organisation to be forced to allow its competitors open access to its core intellectual property, which it has invested large amounts of time and money in developing.“
Why are schools prime targets for ransomware?
By Dakota Murphey Cyber security threats have been a hot topic among professionals across a range of sectors in recent years, and education is no different. While Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check scams have created recent problems for teaching job seekers, it’s not uncommon to find heads of schools, colleges and universities caught in the proverbial crossfires of a nefarious cyber incident, system breach, or situation that could compromise student data integrity. The rise of ransomware in the education sector Given how digitised many education facilities have become in recent years, understanding the potential cyber risks with classroom or top-level system technology is vital. One of the most deadly and fast-rising types of cybercrime is ransomware, which is affecting education institutions in the UK like never before. On the surface, it may seem puzzling why malicious actors would target schools, but a closer examination reveals several compelling reasons behind this evolving cyber security method. A recent report revealed that ransomware attacks increased by 87% in the UK and 37% globally in the first half of 2023. This highly sophisticated form of malware (malicious software) can, at best, be a disruptive nuisance, but at worst, can lock down critical systems and extort funds from education providers. With many schools needing to find the best way possible to set an effective limited budget, they can ill afford to face yet another financial ‘shot in the arm’ at times when costs are high. What’s more, education providers are bound by heavy regulations that mandate safe and strict cyber security infrastructure in place to safeguard student and stakeholder data. If a ransomware (or indeed, any other) incident were to compromise this vital data, the education facility could suffer further financial or reputational damage. Therefore, it’s fair to say that headteachers and decision-makers should pay close attention to the evolving threat of ransomware. To do that, it’s prudent to examine why it has proliferated to such a degree in education settings and what head teachers can do to prevent it from escalating and becoming an issue in their facilities. Why are schools targeted by ransomware attackers? Insufficient Cyber Security Resources Many schools do not have a stable security infrastructure, nor do they have access to the resources necessary to maintain a robust cyber posture. With budgets increasingly stretched, education facilities must allocate funds to the most essential equipment to maintain the safety of students and teachers, from security gates and alarms to CCTV. Often, this leaves little to no room for enterprise-grade digital security measures like encryption software, cyber security training, and endpoint threat detection solutions. Unfortunately, this lack of practical and proactive cyber awareness makes schools easy targets, allowing ransomware operators the ability to infiltrate school systems with greater ease. Additionally, staff are less able to easily detect nefarious activity across their networks meaning that insider threats are less overt, and attackers can move laterally across an estate more easily. Failing to maintain a continuous learning environment Schools, colleges, and universities are heavily reliant on their IT systems to facilitate teaching, learning and administration, among other processes. Online learning platforms, virtual classrooms, student databases, faculty emails, admin and grading systems and more all rely on an interconnected school system. Furthermore, creating a seamless, uninterrupted educational experience for students requires a steady data flow between computers and other devices on a school network. Schools must meet the Department for Education’s Digital Accessibility Standards to ensure all digital resources, content, and services are accessible. However, this is made much more difficult if the underlying system is vulnerable. If they are unable to access the information and systems they need, this could disrupt the education experience. Ransomware operators recognise the dependency that students and teachers alike have on digital infrastructure and can block or encrypt access to critical systems until a ransom is paid, thus bringing education to a de facto standstill. Faced with prolonged disruption due to ransomware, many institutions may feel compelled to pay ransom demands. Holding valuable, sensitive data Schools and education facilities store a huge amount of personally identifiable information (PII) and data in cloud-based digital repositories. The nature of this data is highly sensitive, including names, addresses, contact details, medical and academic records, all of which can be leveraged against a school or individual for illegal or unethical blackmail tactics. Stolen data can also be used as bargaining chips for attackers who may threaten to publicly release or sell it on the dark web unless ransom demands are met. The potential consequences of such data breaches can be severe for schools as well as individuals whose information is compromised. Schools are also bound by General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) which can impose fines if data is not upheld with integrity and a breach occurs. How to mitigate the damage from ransomware and other cybercrime While the evolving threat of ransomware is evidently serious, it is not impossible to overcome. It does mean that schools will have to make key and budget-conscious decisions on safeguarding data and information in light of the complex and changing cyber threat landscape. Basic threat prevention and data security measures include enforcing strong password policies for students and teachers, ensuring that all logins are unique and meet minimum criteria, and backing these measures up with multi-factor authentication (MFA) where possible. Recent stats from Microsoft say that MFA reduces the risk of successful cyber attacks by blocking over 99.9% of account compromises. Systems and software must be regularly patched and updated to protect them from known vulnerabilities and weak spots, robust backups and recovery solutions must be deployed, and email security must be enhanced to minimise the potential for phishing and malware entry. Fundamentally, however, as all education providers know, the most important facet is understanding the what, the where, and the how. Fostering a culture of greater cyber awareness is pivotal in helping schools overcome almost any security issue including ransomware. Encourage open communication and clear reporting procedures, promote safe computing practices and adherence to clear