Millfields Primary School at Colchester in Essex has 30 laptop computers (there are 30 pupils in each class) at a cost of around £12,000, so that every pupil in a class has access to a computer. The laptops are shared around the school and are used every day. It came as a shock when the school’s laptops were stolen, not once, but three times in one year. Despite a number of security measures, including alarms connected to local police, all 30 of the pupil laptops were stolen multiple times.
Although the school was covered by insurance and was able to replace the laptops, disruption to the learning and teaching was significant. It can take up to eight weeks to verify the insurance claim, obtain replacement quotes, acquire new laptops and have software re-installed. This meant that the children were without their laptops for the
best part of half a term.
After the second theft, the school put in extra security measures, including a secure laptop trolley. Unfortunately, it only held 30 laptops and the five extra devices that had been left outside the trolley were stolen. But this time Absolute Computrace was installed on the devices. The school contacted Absolute Software and logged details of the stolen laptops via the online Absolute Customer Centre. Absolute investigations and recovery services team began an investigation. Within two weeks Absolute had tracked the devices to a local shop and told the police who recovered and checked the devices before returning them in full working condition to the school.
The school has now purchased Computrace for 10 staff laptops. Visit www.absolute.com
About the school
Millfields is a state-funded school on the outskirts of Colchester in Essex. It has 34 teachers and administration staff who look after 212 pupils aged between 4 and 11. The school in a semi-rural area has playgrounds, sports fields and natural, wooded areas for the children.
