Alexandra Primary School is a vibrant and inclusive educational institution located in North London. With a strong commitment to digital learning and safeguarding, the school serves a diverse community of pupils and staff. It places high value on technology to support teaching, administration and collaboration across departments.
Alexandra Primary School was experiencing significant issues with its current data synchronisation setup. Link Google Workspace with the on-premise server was causing discrepancies between cloud and local data. This led to confusion among staff, data duplication and the risk of corruption. Additionally, many of the school’s devices were not compatible with Windows 11. With Windows 10 reaching the end of extended support in October 2025, the school faced a critical need to upgrade its infrastructure to maintain security and compliance. These challenges were impacting productivity, data integrity and the overall digital experience for staff and students.
To address these concerns, we proposed a comprehensive modernisation strategy. The first step was a full server migration, removing reliance on the outdated on-premise infrastructure. We configured Microsoft Intune policies tailored specifically for educational environments, ensuring secure and streamlined device management. Internal IT staff received hands-on training and support to confidently deploy and manage Intune across the school’s network.
We facilitated the final decommissioning of the legacy server and implemented 63 Microsoft 365 A3 licences under Education Faculty Pricing (NCE), pending final confirmation of exact licence numbers and users. To resolve the data visibility issues, we recommended configuring Google Drive directly on all user devices, eliminating the link to the local shared drive. Clear communication and retraining sessions were delivered to ensure staff understood the new data access protocols.
Finally, we advised a refresh of workstations that did not meet the minimum specification for Windows 11, ensuring all devices would remain secure and supported beyond 2025.
The migration was completed smoothly, with all 42 devices successfully enrolled into Intune and integrated with Entra ID. Staff now benefit from centralised identity management, improved security, and streamlined access to resources. The removal of the O Drive and implementation of Google Drive sync has significantly improved file accessibility and collaboration across the school. The Platinum finance server continues to operate independently without any disruption. Orchard Primary School now enjoys a modern, scalable infrastructure that supports its digital ambitions and reduces reliance on ageing hardware. The successful transition has also positioned the school for future cloud-based enhancements and growth.
- Successful migration from on-premise server to cloud-based infrastructure
- Deployment of Microsoft Intune with EDU-specific policies
- Empowered internal IT staff through targeted training
- Elimination of data duplication and corruption risks
- Improved staff confidence in accessing and managing data
- Future-proofed devices for Windows 11 compatibility
- Enhanced security and compliance with Microsoft 365 A3 licences
