Asger Risom
The school says it is working with authorities but cannot yet guarantee when normal operations will resume.
A secondary school in the West Midlands has been forced to shut its doors after a cyber-attack knocked out critical digital services. The disruption has left families scrambling for childcare and raised fresh concerns about the vulnerability of schools to cyber incidents.
The school says it is working with authorities but cannot yet guarantee when normal operations will resume.
Sudden shutdown
Higham Lane School in Nuneaton, north of Coventry, closed on Monday, 5 January, after discovering it had been targeted in a cyber-attack over the weekend.
In a message sent to parents and carers, the school said it hoped to reopen on Wednesday but stressed this would only happen if it could do so “in a safe and controlled manner.”
The closure affects hundreds of students and staff and comes during the first full week back after the holiday break.
Systems offline
According to the school, the attack disabled its entire IT environment. This included telephones, email, servers and the school’s management systems, leaving staff unable to rely on normal digital tools.
The school apologised to families who were forced to make alternative childcare arrangements at short notice as a result of the shutdown.
Higham Lane School is part of the Central England Academy Trust.
Decision to close
The school said closing was a “difficult decision” but necessary to allow investigators to gather evidence and reduce the risk of a similar incident happening again.
It confirmed that the appropriate authorities had been notified and that it was cooperating fully with all relevant agencies.
“As a precautionary measure, the school is currently closed while investigations and remediation activities are undertaken,” the school said in its statement.
Ongoing investigation
As part of the response, staff and students have been instructed not to log into any school systems, including Google Classroom or SharePoint, until further notice.
“To ensure maximum safety while investigations continue, both staff and students are being asked not to access any school systems until we know more,” the school said.
There has been no indication so far of whether personal data was accessed or stolen, and the school has not provided details on the nature of the attack.
Cyber incidents affecting UK schools have become more common in recent years, with attackers increasingly targeting public sector organisations that rely heavily on digital systems but often have limited resources for cybersecurity.
