St Elisabeths CE Primary School: Thriving in the Cloud

The Challenge

St Elisabeth's faced challenges with their traditional IT infrastructure, which relied on on-premises servers and Windows devices. Their setup was not only expensive to maintain but also lacked the flexibility and scalability needed to support their growing needs. 

If there were to be hardware failures or limited storage capacity this could lead to significant downtime, disrupting daily operations and impacting the overall efficiency of the school.

The primary challenge was to develop and implement a comprehensive technical plan which would have our team working on the project for just one week. The plan needed to surround all aspects of the transition to ensure a seamless move. The goal was to significantly enhance collaborative working capabilities and streamline support. The technical plan included detailed steps for data migration, system integration, and the deployment of new collaboration tools. 

Additionally, making collaboration significantly easier was a critical objective. This involved integrating advanced communication platforms and project management tools to facilitate real-time collaboration and information sharing. This required setting up a dedicated support system to address any technical issues promptly and efficiently.

The Solution

Our comprehensive solution included the management of their internet system and implementing a Barracuda firewall. This setup provides the school with a secure and reliable network, safeguarding their data and ensuring smooth internet connectivity.

The decision to move to the cloud was driven by the need to overcome these limitations. By adopting a serverless architecture, we aimed to reduce operational costs for the school and eliminate the complexities associated with managing physical servers. The serverless model offers enhanced scalability, allowing the school to easily adjust resources based on demand without the need for significant upfront investments.

What's more, the cloud provides improved reliability and uptime, ensuring that critical applications and data are always accessible. This transition also supports St Elisabeth’s plan to introduce Chromebooks, further streamlining their IT environment and enhancing the user experience for staff and students. The move to the cloud has empowered St Elisabeth's to focus on one of their core missions, leveraging modern technology to create a more resilient, efficient, and future-proof IT infrastructure. 

A key highlight of this project was our innovative approach to cloud migration. We successfully tested and implemented a new method that allows most of the migration process to be conducted remotely. This advanced the transition, ensuring a smooth and efficient move to the cloud.

The Result

The success of the cloud migration at St Elisabeth's stands as a testament to our commitment to delivering cutting-edge, cost-effective solutions that empower education needs. We are proud to be their managed service provider and continue to support their IT infrastructure ensuring this remains secure and efficient. 

By migrating to a fully cloud-based system, St Elisabeth's has achieved remarkable improvements in both efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The elimination of on-site servers has reduced maintenance costs and freed up valuable physical space. Additionally, the cloud-based approach ensures that the school's IT resources are scalable and adaptable to their evolving needs, without the constraints of physical hardware.

One of the standout benefits of this migration is the enhanced accessibility and flexibility it provides. Staff and students can now access educational resources and tools from anywhere, at any time, creating a more dynamic and collaborative learning environment. This has been particularly beneficial for remote learning and hybrid classroom setups, ensuring continuity in education regardless of location.

Security has also been significantly supported with the implementation of the Barracuda firewall, which ensures that the school's data is protected against cyber threats, providing peace of mind for both staff and parents.

Client Statement

We are delighted to endorse Computeam for their excellent work in managing the cloud migration at St. Elisabeth's CE Primary School. From the initial planning stages through to the final implementation, Computeam ensured that school leaders were kept fully informed, and any feedback was promptly addressed. 

What can often be a stressful process for staff was made seamless by the professionalism and approachability of the Computeam team. Their dedication and expertise turned a complex project into a smooth and successful transition, greatly benefiting our school community.

John Barrett, Chief Executive Officer, Thrive CE Academy Trust

Computeam Statement

Over the summer break, we were tasked with transitioning St Elisabeth's into a serverless environment. This involved rethinking their IT infrastructure to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and improve scalability. This process includes migrating applications and data to cloud services, ensuring robust security measures and training staff to utilise new tools effectively. 

By leveraging serverless architecture, we can streamline operations, minimise maintenance burdens, and focus on delivering an enriched educational experience for students. This shift not only supports current technological demands but also positions the school for future growth and innovation.

Jacques Taylor-Beck, Senior IT Consultant, Computeam