ITS Conference 2025: Innovation, Collaboration & The Future of Spencer's Digital Strategy
Last term, IT colleagues from across the Spencer Academies Trust came together for our annual ITS Conference Day 2025 - a day to reflect on our incredible journey in IT transformation and to look ahead at the exciting innovations shaping the future of digital learning and support across our Trust.
Paul West, Chief Executive, opened the day with a powerful introduction, charting the evolution of our IT service from an outsourced managed provider to a fully in-house service. This shift has given us greater control, capability, and flexibility - enabling us to deliver smarter, more responsive IT services for both students and colleagues.
He also introduced our transition to Arbor, our new Management Information System (MIS), which brings consistency and efficiency to school operations across the Trust. This aligns with our broader EdTech and PedTech visions - ensuring technology enhances, rather than replaces, the learning experience.
Matt Taylor, Director of Strategic IT & Infrastructure, then took us through our IT transformation journey so far - from early systems migrations to today’s robust, unified network. Over the last two years, the team has achieved some remarkable milestones, including:
- Established a centralised IT service model with clear service standards and helpdesk analytics.
- A full Office 365 tenant migration for over 22,000 users, bringing everyone onto one collaborative platform.
- Consolidated and upgraded network infrastructure, broadband, and telephony, enhancing reliability and performance.
- A full SharePoint and OneDrive migration, strengthening document control and collaboration.
- Unified device management through Intune, securing over 7,000 Windows devices and enabling zero-touch deployment.
- Completed a full trust JAMF migration for Apple devices, improving control and compliance.
- The rollout of Halo, our centralised helpdesk and asset management platform, improving support visibility and consistency.
- Enhanced site security through Paxton10, along with improved safeguarding and monitoring systems.
- Rolled out trust-wide filtering and monitoring systems, enhancing digital safeguarding and online safety.
- Migrated to Arbor MIS, creating a single data ecosystem across all schools.
- Achieving Cyber Essentials certification, reinforcing our commitment to digital safety and compliance.
- Embedded CPD and apprenticeships across the IT team, building internal capacity and developing future talent.
- Delivered a full Windows 11 migration, completing the Windows 10 end-of-life cycle.
- Decommissioned legacy servers, delivering annual cost savings and reducing the trust’s carbon footprint.
Our future priorities for 2025-26 are centred on innovation and optimisation, including AI-driven reporting and automation, Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation, improved user experience through single sign-on, and a stronger commitment to sustainability and efficiency through cloud-first and lifecycle planning.
The day also featured a range of insightful presentations and training sessions:
- Fiona Hallam led safeguarding training, reinforcing our culture of vigilance and the importance of timely reporting.
- Tom Newton, VP External Relations and Innovation, discussed digital safeguarding partnerships with Smoothwall, Qoria, and Linewize.
- Mark O’Neil (BenQ) demonstrated collaboration tools and safety features of BenQ interactive boards.
- Naomi Toland (Canva for Education) showcased creative classroom applications for whiteboards, videos, and group projects in Canva.
- Graham Crawford introduced the latest in HPE Aruba Networking, highlighting AI-driven, secure, and scalable solutions for MAT environments.
It was an inspiring day celebrating our progress and shared purpose across our Trust’s digital journey.
Feedback from attendees was very positive, with many colleagues commenting on how valuable the day was – both professionally and personally – and how they enjoyed the opportunity to learn new things, gain insights from industry experts, and connect with other IT professionals from across the Trust.
Reflecting on the day, Matt Taylor, Director of Strategic IT & Infrastructure, shared: “This year’s ITS Conference was a milestone moment in our digital journey. It reflected not only the scale of what we have achieved together but also the collective expertise, creativity, and commitment driving our Spencer IT Strategy forward.
Our transformation has been about more than technology. It has been about building the culture, capability, and confidence to deliver smarter, safer, and more sustainable digital services across our schools. Seeing colleagues from every corner of our Trust collaborate, share ideas, and challenge thinking reaffirmed that our greatest strength lies in our people – living our values of Aspiration, Partnership, and Responsibility every day.
The progress we’ve made over the past two years has been remarkable, but it is only the beginning. Our priorities are clear. While continuing to deliver high-quality IT operations, our focus is equally on driving the wider digital strategy – ensuring technology continues to enable innovation, empower colleagues, and enhance outcomes for pupils.
Together, we are shaping and delivering a digital strategy that is ambitious, resilient, aspirational, equitable, and distinctly Spencer.”
