Cyber security for schools, from posture to plan
Cyber Readiness is our home for everything cyber: where you stand today, what to do next, and the assurance to prove it. We are an NCSC-assured Cyber Advisor. Our structured three-stage assessment aligns to DfE direction and is proven across 12 schools in the DfE pilot.
Three stages, one clear outcome
Pre-assessment
A guided fact-find with human validation. We establish the picture with you rather than relying on a self-serve questionnaire.
Assessment
A DfE-style assessment activity supported by tooling-led vulnerability analysis. We test against a recognised standard.
Post-assessment
An executive summary, detailed technical findings, and a prioritised improvement plan that routes into remediation where you want it.
Evidence inspectors and trustees can interrogate
Cyber readiness is no longer optional for schools and trusts. Leaders are expected to demonstrate it, and to show a credible plan where gaps exist. Our assessment gives you both: a clear statement of where you stand today, and a prioritised path to where you need to be.
Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus follow naturally as outcomes of the work, rather than being the starting point.
Leadership, governors, and IT
The executive summary is written for leadership and governors. The technical findings are written for your IT team. Both come from the same assessment.
An NCSC-assured Cyber Advisor
Medhurst Communications is certified under the National Cyber Security Centre Cyber Advisor scheme, delivered with IASME. The scheme assures organisations to give practical, proportionate cyber security advice to schools and other small and medium organisations, focused on implementing the Cyber Essentials technical controls. Our qualified Cyber Advisor is Gareth Davies.
For a school or trust it means the cyber advice you receive is independently assured by the UK technical authority for cyber security, not simply asserted.
What we cover
Cyber Readiness assessment, Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus, endpoint protection, network segmentation, immutable backup, and filtering and monitoring aligned to DfE safeguarding. The detail and our certificates sit on the Compliance Posture page.
Deep with named partners, flexible across them
Remediation draws on our cyber security partnerships, Sophos and Fortinet as primary partners, with alternatives selected to your need, and our safeguarding filtering and monitoring partnerships led by Smoothwall.
Industry accreditations
Book a Cyber Readiness
Tell us about your school or trust and we will explain the three stages and the options for re-assessment on a regular cadence.