What is a school MIS?

Amy Underdown - 11 October, 2023

Category : Blog

What is a school MIS?

A school MIS, or management information system, is a piece of software which brings together data into one place. An MIS helps organisations make decisions, from daily tasks through to top-level strategy. Every school in the UK has to have an MIS. As a school MIS manages data around all aspects of school life, it’s

A school MIS, or management information system, is a piece of software which brings together data into one place. An MIS helps organisations make decisions, from daily tasks through to top-level strategy. Every school in the UK has to have an MIS.

As a school MIS manages data around all aspects of school life, it’s used by lots of different people. By teachers to take the register or log behaviour incidents, the headteacher to see cross-school statistics, and the office staff/data team to analyse information and contact parents. 

At Arbor, we believe that a moving MIS is a real chance to change the way you work for the better – but more on that later…

What are the benefits of having my school MIS in the cloud?

Over the past five years, more and more schools are moving away from legacy, server-based MIS and are instead choosing to move to a cloud-based MIS. As of October 2023, this number stands at over 9,000 schools. And, according to the latest DfE census data, 3 out of 4 schools who make the switch choose Arbor.

A recent survey of over 1,000 schools by The Key showed that these trends are set to continue:

What is a school MIS

So what are the benefits of a cloud MIS?

  • Having your MIS in the cloud means school staff to work from anywhere. This became pivotal for many schools during the pandemic
  • A cloud MIS should help consolidate all core student and staff data, including attainment, progress, behaviour, payments and messages into one system, improving reporting and giving schools a truly holistic view of their organisation
  • Our recent report (free to download here) also showed that schools who use Arbor, the UK’s most popular cloud MIS, save time and money every year by moving away from legacy school MIS

The UK’s most popular cloud MIS for schools

Arbor MIS helps schools of all sizes work better, with intuitive tools designed to make a difference. Chosen by over 5,500 schools and 450 trusts, we’re proud to be the UK’s most popular cloud MIS. 

Given the impact that switching can have on everything from workload, to staff happiness, parental engagement and school collaboration, we believe that choosing the right MIS is a real opportunity to change the way you work for the better.

But just don’t take it from us, hear below from one Assistant Principal sharing his experience after choosing Arbor MIS for his secondary school of over 2,000 students.

What is a school MIS?

How do I move school MIS?

We know that switching MIS can be a daunting process. If you’re thinking about moving MIS, but aren’t sure where to start, there are a couple of ways you can find out if Arbor is a good fit for your school:

  1. Get in touch with us here. We’ll find out more about your school and go through your options.
  2. Watch a demo! All our demos are on-demand so you can see Arbor in your own time.

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