St Mary’s College in Derry is one of a growing number of schools across Northern Ireland to see the benefits of the C2k managed service. John O’Flaherty, the ICT Co-ordinator at St Mary’s College in Derry and the school’s three ICT technicians are impressed by C2k’s and Northgate’s commitment to delivering a top class service to their school and are convinced that the school’s specialist managed service represents excellent value for money.

John explains that in recent years St Mary’s – a Department of Education Specialist School for Science, and a Microsoft IT Academy with 864 pupils on its rolls - more than doubled its core ICT entitlement under the C2K initiative, investing over £80,000 on updating its ICT provision.  

“We have 298 desktop machines and 40 laptops in constant use throughout the school. The kind of back up provided by Northgate is essential to ensure that everything is in proper working order so that staff and pupils can get on with their teaching and learning. The advantages that come from having this level of support far outweigh the initial investment.”

He says that staff can see the benefits of having a reliable and professionally managed service every day. “The school’s local area network allows staff and students to access their personal files and folders both at school and from home and with coursework now forming an important element of so many courses, it is essential to have a reliable service provider which allows ease of access to their work.”

While networked computers, interactive whiteboards, laser printers and scanners have all undoubtedly transformed the way teachers teach and pupils learn and helped make lessons more interesting, teachers and pupils alike know how frustrating and time wasting it can be when technology fails to deliver. When things do go wrong as they inevitably do, it is good to have the kind of technical back up that only a specialist provider like Northgate can offer. “Sometimes all it takes is a phone call to sort out some technical issue, but if anything needs repaired or replaced, this is done as quickly as possible with minimal disruption.

“Buying into the managed service has removed the burden of managing and maintaining the IT systems from the school. In our experience, the professionalism and technical support provided by Northgate has been outstanding.

“Schools shouldn’t have to get involved in technical issues and the managed service eliminates the need for this. Northgate is used to working with schools and the kind of managed service they offer is flexible and tailored to meet the specific needs of St Mary’s.”