For information | All LA maintained schools

Following a competitive tendering process, we have awarded a contract to Arbor Education for the provision of a new MIS and Finance system to replace the existing ESS SIMS and FMS products. We believe that this will offer a very much enhanced solution to our schools in Suffolk.

We awarded the contract in July and despite there being limited time available at the end of the last school year, we have had an excellent response from schools. We now have commitments from more than 50% of our LA maintained schools. Thank you for your positive engagement so far.

Previous information has been shared in Suffolk Headlines, which included information about the Arbor webinar held in July, migration plans and pricing.

We are now reaching out to those LA maintained schools who have not yet made a decision or responded to previous communications. Please contact the project team if you would like further information about the project and plans, including copies of the slides and recording from the July webinar, and how to get booked onto a Migration Wave.

The contract we have secured with Arbor allows schools to migrate between now and the end of next March with no licence costs applicable until 1 April 2025.

It would also be appreciated if any school not wishing to participate in the new Arbor contract could communicate their intent as soon as possible. As previously advised the current SIMS and FMS solution provided by ParentPay/ESS will cease at the end of March 2025. Suffolk County Council will not be providing any options to extend or provide any ongoing support beyond this date.

Contact: [email protected]