Staff and pupils at Wolverhampton school overcome IT issues for good day of learning
Students at a city school have been taking in a different type of learning experience after an IT issue.
The Royal School in Wolverhampton has been working over the past few days to get reconnected after its connection was disrupted on Friday.
It left the staff and pupils without any internet connection and saw the school closed on Monday, but pupils were able to return to lessons on Tuesday.
Principal Mark Heywood said the primary concern after the internet at the school went down was to ensure pupil safety and then get the system back up and running.
He said: "As you can imagine when the internet goes down in any shape or form, that has an impact on a variety of different systems and while we have a number of analogue systems that we use to keep people safe, one of the main impacts is having no internet service.
"We're having to teach in a slightly different way and more entertaining way for some of the kids at the moment, but we expect it to be a relatively short-lived issue and once the IT experts get their understanding behind it all, we can move forward.
"Staff have got access to their Office 365 and are making good progress on their learning programmes."
Mr Heywood said that despite the IT issues, the cause of which has not yet been determined, the teachers and pupils had been able to adapt well.
He said: "I've seen some very interesting learning going on today which has involved our touchscreen TVs and all sorts of other things.
"I have got huge admiration for our staff and parents and students for adapting, even if it's only a day, and also to something which is different than you, and there's been good learning and teaching across the whole school today.
"We're working with the IT experts to find out what they know and we'll act on their advice to ensure that health and safety and safeguarding needs are met first, then make sure that the systems are robust, compliant and safe for pupils, staff and visitors.
"I'm not an IT expert, I'm a principal, so I just do what I'm told at this point and we'll make judgement on the information that is presented from the experts in the field."
The issues at the Royal School come just days after the University of Wolverhampton's IT systems were hit by a cyber security issue which forced staff and students to stay at home.
