Background

Notre Dame Prep is a Catholic Independent school with a strong Christian ethos, based in central Norwich. The school currently has 220 children on the school roll with 39 teaching and support staff. Netcentral has built up a strong working relationship with Notre Dame since they started working together in 2006.

Why call Netcentral?

When headmaster, Kieran O’Herlihy, took up his post at Notre Dame Prep School the IT system was outdated and required a lot of maintenance. The school didn’t have the resources to overhaul everything in one go so sought advice on how to maintain the system and equipment until they could be gradually replaced.

Kieran approached Netcentral to work with the school to provide a cost effective solution to the longer-term maintenance and upgrade of the system. Kieran added: “It was clear that Nik understood our specific needs and the demand on our budget but worked to get the best solution for this.”

The solution

A plan was put in place to gradually upgrade the system piece by piece, as budget permitted. Initially the leased equipment was cleaned up to prolong shelf life until replacements were purchased. Over the past ten years Netcentral have installed new servers for email and SIMS (school management software) and installed new cabling with a Meru wireless network throughout the school.

Staff and children have laptops in each classroom as well as iPads with a Mac Mini for Mobile Device Management. Each classroom has an interactive whiteboard and these are now gradually being replaced with new 65” BenQ Interactive Displays.

Netcentral will shortly be installing their school broadband service to speed up connectivity across the site. In addition Notre Dame Prep receives a fortnightly support visit from a dedicated technician to address any technical issues before they have too much impact on staff and pupils. Remote accessing also allows the technician to solve problems online without a callout – saving time and money.

• Fortinet Meru Wi-Fi
• Servers
• Email and SIMS
• Laptops / iPads / Mac Mini
• School Broadband
• Interative Whiteboards
• BenQ Interactive Displays
• ICT Support

Client feedback

“My advice to other schools contemplating a new IT supplier is to call Nik to start building your relationship with Netcentral. They provide an exceptional level of service and on a personal level it’s been a real pleasure to watch the business grow over the past 10 years.”

“During this time, Notre Dame Prep has moved from leasing equipment to owning our servers, laptops and interactive displays and have wireless connectivity throughout – meaning staff can concentrate on using the technology to enhance teaching rather than struggling to make everything connect.”

Kieran O’Herlihy | Headmaster

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