Case Study: Outwood Grange Academies Trust achieves centralised, cost-effective school IT with Node4 Ltd

Outwood Grange Academies Trust Giving Every Child a Tier 3 Education With Support From Node4

Outwood Grange Academies Trust, a multi-academy trust supporting 31 primary and secondary academies, needed to replace an unstable data centre arrangement that hosted its HR, payroll, backup, email, and other central systems. With tight education budgets and a growing network of schools, the Trust needed a reliable, centralised platform that could support agile expansion and avoid the cost and complexity of running separate systems across each academy. Node4 Ltd was brought in to provide the hosting and infrastructure support.

Node4 Ltd delivered a tailored, centrally managed solution by relocating the Trust’s telephone infrastructure, backup systems, email server, and HR/Finance/Payroll services into its own data centre. The move was completed smoothly on a tight turnaround, keeping payroll running with no disruption for 4,500 staff and enabling secure backup of files for 27,000 users every night. The result was a cost-effective, reliable platform that supports flexible working and disaster recovery, with an entire school able to be restored within 24–36 hours.

Outwood Grange Academies Trust

Stuart Jones

Director of ICT