Download Carey Baptist Grammar School
Carey Baptist Grammar School is a co-educational Christian school for students in Kindergarten to Year 12. Originally founded as a boys’ school in 1923, Carey caters to 2,300 boys and girls and is regularly placed in the top twenty academic schools in Victoria. Download now
“We were able to refocus our efforts and provide ongoing, proactive support in the classroom. Our Service Desk staff is now able to get into the classrooms and assist teachers and students with their learning tasks.”
Steven Archibald, ICT Manager at Carey Baptist Grammar School
Fact file
Business Challenge
Technology has come to play a pivotal role in Carey over the last ten years. Secondary school students are catered for with a one-to-one tablet and PC program and in 2009, the school committed to purchasing a one-to-two laptop ratio for its primary school to facilitate greater interaction and digital learning.
In total, Carey manages nearly 2,500 desktops and laptops, plus provides technical support to approximately 2,680 students and staff.
By their very nature, schools are places where an outbreak of malware can spread very quickly. External USB devices which can be brought into the school by students, amplify Carey’s exposure to security threats.
More specifically, malware which plagues peerto- peer sharing websites commonly accessed by students on their laptops at home presents a huge threat to Carey.
According to Steven Archibald, ICT Manager at Carey Baptist Grammar School, “With a school of Carey’s stature, our security issues are not unique. The sheer number of devices on campus makes it a challenge to identify and prevent the outbreak of threats.”
Carey’s technical team of 12 full-time employees and two contractors needed a security solution that would protect students and staff, whilst being costeffective and easy to manage. Carey also needed a solution that provided quick, automatic updates to ensure all devices would be protected from new security threats as they emerged, whether at school, home or at a conference.
Technology solution
To help meet their security needs, Carey sought assistance from education technology specialist Computelec. The team at Computelec worked closely with Steve Archibald and based on the school’s requirements recommended Sophos Endpoint Security & Control.
By having to purchase a single license only, Carey would also save on buying multiple licenses and be able to protect all its computers and laptops, whether Windows, Macs or Linux.
With the new solution, the school’s devices would be protected with a single integrated solution that detects malware, spyware, suspicious behavior and files, removable storage devices and unauthorised applications. The software will also detect if users try to transfer sensitive data to a removable storage device, email or instant messaging applications.
Business results
Eighteen months since implementing the Sophos solution, Carey has witnessed a significant drop in the number of malware that was slipping through its security defenses and consequently, a decrease in the day-to-day technical support queries made by students.
“Our previous security solution only picked up 65 per cent of malware but now with Sophos, almost all malware is detected which has led to a notable drop in the number of technical support queries made by students. Prior to Sophos, we had up to 450 queries a week for technical problems that could have easily been prevented,” said Archibald.
The reduction in support queries has enabled Carey to refocus its time and resources to proactively helping students and staff in the classrooms, rather than being stuck at the Service Desk.
“We were able to refocus our efforts and provide ongoing, proactive support in the classroom. Our Service Desk staff is now able to get into the classrooms and assist teachers and students with their learning tasks.”
“The implementation was a smooth and easy transition and now, it’s almost a matter of set and forget,” said Archibald.