The school gave your child an email address ending in the school's name.
Two years of homework, projects and class notes now live inside it.
Very few parents have asked the obvious question about that account.
Who owns a school account?
The school does.
An account issued by a school sits inside an account the school itself controls, usually called a managed or organisation account.
Someone at the school, often the IT teacher, is the administrator of it.
An administrator can reset the password, change the name on it, and see or remove files stored in it.
They can also switch the whole account off.
None of that is sinister, it is simply how school and office accounts work everywhere.
But it does mean the account is a place your child works, not a place your family keeps things.
What happens when they leave the school?
Usually the account is closed, and the timing is rarely announced clearly.
Some switch it off on the last day, some a few weeks later, some quietly at the end of the session.
When it goes, the files stored inside it go with it.
Certificates, project files, two years of notes, all of it.
The same thing happens if a child moves boards, changes cities, or the school changes its email provider.
So copy the work out well before the leaving date, not during it.
How do we keep our own copy of the work?
Copy the work into a place your family controls, on a schedule.
- Make one folder per school year on a home computer or a pen drive, with subject folders inside it.
- Download the things that matter, especially projects, reports and certificates.
- Save anything important as a PDF too, because a PDF opens anywhere years later.
- Do it once a term, not once ever.
- Keep a second copy somewhere else, because pen drives die quietly.
Photographs of certificates are worth taking on the day they are received.
Years later, that copy may be the only one left.
What about school and shared computers?
Teach one habit: sign out when you finish.
A browser left signed in on a lab computer is an open account for the next child.
Do not save the school password in a browser that is not yours.
And never keep personal photos or family documents in a school account, because it is not a personal cupboard.
Things to Remember
- A school-issued account belongs to the school, not to you.
- Assume it will be switched off after your child leaves.
- Copy the work out once a term, into your own folders.
- Save projects and certificates as PDFs, and keep two copies.
- Sign out on shared computers, and keep personal files out of a school account.