Bywater Kent Support Services
Cyber Security Training Built Specifically for School Leaders
A practical, school-focused programme for Headteachers, Deputy Headteachers and School Business Managers, designed to strengthen confidence, preparedness and resilience.
Secure Your Place
Why We Built This
A Resource We Felt Was Missing
Over the past year, we have had many conversations with school leaders about cyber security, data protection and safeguarding. What has become increasingly clear through those conversations is that whilst guidance exists, very little of it has been designed with school leaders specifically in mind.
Headteachers, Deputies and School Business Managers are often expected to make important, time-sensitive decisions during a cyber incident, yet most available training is either too technical, too generic, or simply not relevant to the realities of school leadership.
We felt that needed to change. This programme has been developed to give school leaders the practical knowledge, confidence and resources to understand cyber risks, strengthen preparedness, and respond effectively if an incident occurs, without needing a technical background to do so.
The Programme
Introducing: Cyber Security Training for School Leaders
The only programme of its kind, developed exclusively for school leadership teams.
This is not an IT course. It is a leadership, governance and safeguarding resource, one that reflects the specific responsibilities, pressures and regulatory expectations that school leaders face every day.
Across eight focused modules, the programme covers everything from understanding the cyber threats currently facing schools, through to practical incident response, safeguarding responsibilities, and how to build a culture of cyber awareness across your whole school community.
The programme has been designed to be completed in around 90 minutes, though you are welcome to work through it across multiple sessions and return to any module at any point. There is no requirement to complete it all at once.
Why This Programme
Practical, Focused and Designed Around You
Built Exclusively for Schools
Every module, scenario and resource has been developed with education settings in mind. The content reflects the responsibilities, systems and pressures specific to school leadership, rather than a generic business environment.
Designed for Leaders, Not Technicians
No technical background is required. The programme focuses on leadership decision-making, governance responsibilities and practical preparedness rather than technical detail.
Cyber Security as Part of Safeguarding
A central theme throughout the programme is the direct relationship between cyber resilience and a school's wider safeguarding responsibilities, including the expectations set out in Keeping Children Safe in Education.
Completable in Around 90 Minutes
Eight concise modules with no unnecessary content. The programme has been designed to respect your time whilst ensuring everything covered is genuinely useful and immediately applicable.
Learn at Your Own Pace
Access the course when it suits you. Return to individual modules, work through it with colleagues, or complete it across several sessions, entirely on your own terms.
CPD Certification on Completion
Participants who complete all eight modules will receive a Bywater Kent / DPO Centre CPD certificate evidencing leadership-level awareness of cyber security, safeguarding and organisational resilience.
Course Content
What the Programme Covers
Eight focused modules, each addressing a key areas of cyber resilience for school leaders:
Why Cyber Security Matters In Schools
The current threat landscape facing schools, why the education sector is increasingly targeted, and what the real consequences of a cyber incident can look like.
Key Threats Facing Schools
A clear explanation of phishing, ransomware, account compromise, social engineering and device-related risks, with school-specific examples throughout.
What Cyber Resilience Means For Schools
The three foundations of cyber resilience: skilled and aware people, secure and well-managed systems, and strong leadership oversight.
Practical Cyber Controls For Schools
The specific steps school leaders should understand and have in place, from multi-factor authentication and access controls through to filtering, monitoring and backup arrangements.
Incident Response Planning For Schools
What good incident response looks like in a school setting. Clear guidance on the first five minutes, first hour and first day of a cyber incident, including safeguarding and GDPR considerations.
Interactive Scenario Exercises
Five realistic school-based scenarios allowing leaders to work through decision-making in a safe, structured environment before a real incident occurs.
Developing A Cyber-Aware Culture In Schools
How school leaders can embed cyber awareness across their organisation through communication, policy, culture and consistent leadership behaviour.
Wrap-Up, Certification & Toolkit
A consolidation of key learning, access to the full resource toolkit, and your CPD completion certificate.
Included With the Programme
More Than a Course: A Complete Practical Toolkit
We wanted this programme to be something schools could genuinely use, not simply something to tick off a list. Alongside the training itself, every participant receives access to a suite of practical resources developed specifically for school leaders and ready to use straight away.
📊 Cyber Resilience Self-Assessment Tool
A structured tool to help school leaders review current arrangements, identify gaps and prioritise improvements across seven key areas of cyber resilience.
📋 Cyber Incident Response Plan
A ready-to-adapt framework covering every stage of a cyber incident response, from the first five minutes through to post-incident review and lessons learned.
⚖️ Cyber Incident & GDPR Decision Guide
A practical flowchart to help school leaders quickly assess whether a cyber incident has data protection or reporting implications under UK GDPR.
🎯 Tabletop Exercise Resource
A structured scenario resource allowing schools to practise their response to realistic cyber incidents. Tabletop exercises can be delivered in collaboration with Datacable Educational ICT, bringing independent technical expertise to your preparedness planning.
👥 Staff Awareness Guides
Practical resources designed to be shared directly with staff, including guidance on spotting phishing emails, ten practical cyber quick wins, and safe device use.
📌 Leadership Oversight & Action Tools
Supporting ongoing governance, accountability and continuous improvement at SLT and governor level.
Feedback
What School Leaders Say
"This is a practical, well-structured course that gives school leaders the confidence and resources to strengthen cyber resilience in their schools. The toolkit is excellent, particularly the Cyber Quick Wins guide and self-assessment tool, which provide practical support that leaders can use immediately."
Our Collaboration
Developed in Collaboration with Datacable Educational ICT
This programme has been developed by Bywater Kent Support Services and reviewed in collaboration with Datacable Educational ICT. We are pleased to have had their independent perspective during the development process, and they bring their technical expertise directly to the programme through the delivery of the Tabletop Exercise resource included within the toolkit.
The training itself is entirely provider-neutral and has been designed to be relevant and applicable to all schools, regardless of which ICT provider or systems they work with.
Pricing
A Note on Pricing — From the Team
We have deliberately kept the rate for this programme as accessible as possible, and we want to be straightforward with you about why.
Cyber attacks on schools increase during holiday periods. With reduced staffing, less active monitoring and slower response times, these breaks are some of the highest-risk windows of the year for schools. We would much rather our schools were better prepared going into these periods than dealing with the consequences of an incident when they return.
With that in mind, we offer a preferential rate exclusively for our existing SLA school clients.
Existing SLA Clients
Exclusive rate for schools with an active SLA
Available to existing Bywater Kent SLA clients only.
Right for You?
Is This Programme Right for You?
This programme has been developed primarily for the leaders most likely to be making key decisions during a cyber incident and those with the greatest responsibility for organisational resilience, safeguarding and governance.
It may also be of value to Governors, Trust leaders and wider senior leadership teams who wish to strengthen their understanding of cyber risk and their school's preparedness.
If you are responsible for the safety, data and operational continuity of a school, this programme has been built with you in mind.
Questions & Answers
Frequently Asked Questions
We Hope This Helps Your School Feel Better Prepared
Cyber resilience is not something schools can afford to defer indefinitely. The good news is that it does not require a large time commitment or a technical background, just a willingness to understand the risks and take practical steps to address them. We have tried to make this as straightforward and accessible as possible.
Secure Your Place: £295 + VATAvailable to existing Bywater Kent SLA clients only.
One licence covers your whole leadership team.