Technical FAQs
How do you deploy the software?
Once a school has been confirmed as eligible for the service and representatives have attended both the technical and DSL training webinars, an email will be sent to the technical contact stated on the onboarding form. It will notify you that your school’s portal has been set up and is ready to be accessed and will also include links to installers for different operating systems, with options for Windows (InTune, SCCM, Group Policy), Chromebook, Mac, iOS and Microsoft Teams.
Is the deployment different for managed and unmanaged?
No, the software installation process is identical. Schools can move between managed and unmanaged with ease (it is simply a question of whether the managed service (human review) team have access to the captures or not). The only difference is that the managed service has a human review team which check, triage and escalate captures whereas captures in the unmanaged service are only seen by the school.
Is there training for technicians?
Yes, there are dedicated training webinars for technicians on how to roll out the software. You will be shown the process from end to end and have opportunities to ask questions. These sessions are compulsory before a school can go live – even if you have rolled out Senso previously, it still makes sense to attend a session to hear about the latest best practice and defaults for LGfL installs which are designed to simplify your work and ensure settings are correct from Day 1. They will be run every week and on different days, so if you wish to attend again for a refresher or to share with new colleagues in your team, this will be possible. The links are sent to schools once they have been checked for eligibility. If you wish to attend again and have misplaced the link, reach out to monitoring@lgfl.net.
Should it be rolled out to all devices?
Yes. It is really important that there are no devices in school which are not monitored (unless you know a device is in a staff-only area, for example, so will never be accessed by a student). This would undermine the system and the school would be at major risk of serious incidents going unchecked. That is why our unmanaged monitoring service has a per-school licence and you can install it on as many devices as you have. The managed service will be priced per pupil, but again, the number of devices is irrelevant, so you will not be charged more for having 100% device coverage on the monitoring service.
Does it monitor all applications on the device or only the browser?
On Windows and Mac devices, all applications are monitored (including, for example, what you type in Word and any other application, not just in the browser). On Chromebooks, Play Store apps are not monitored but as long as you do not allow communication apps outside the browser, this will still retain full device coverage. Mobile devices are different, however. Apple does not allow device inspection in the same way as for devices on other operating systems. This means that you will need to use the Senso browser app and uninstall and block other browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc). To mitigate against this limitation, which affects other providers as well, be sure to use an MDM to block other browsers, to block other communication apps and social media, etc and it will be unlikely to represent a significant restriction.
Microsoft Teams is an exception - this can be monitored at all times and on any device.
What is the Microsoft Teams monitoring function?
Available at no extra cost to any LGfL-broadband school using one of the monitoring services, the MS Teams chat monitor is agentless - this means that it will work on any device where a pupil is logged into Teams. If your school uses Teams, be sure to roll this out as well via your MS Office 365 portal. Find out more in all the Teams KB artciles here.
What about devices used by staff as well as pupils - how do I exclude staff?
Be aware that monitoring staff is not a matter for safeguarding leads to deal with (headteachers handle staff allegations) and must never take place without a headteacher making a conscious decision to do so, this being clearly communicated to all staff and with clear internal processes established for how captures should be handled). Schools may decide to monitor staff devices but please make sure they do so consciously, with Headteacher permission and clear communication with staff (NB - for the managed service, this incurs an extra charge as the service is per user monitored).
Most schools will not want to monitor staff. To avoid doing this (be aware that these steps are not foolproof, e.g. if a device or login is shared or if a user forgets to log out):
- Do not install the software on any device which you are sure will never be accessed by staff (eg in the staffroom or office)
- For Chromebooks, Senso is rolled out as a Chrome extension which is applied to specific OUs (organisational units). Therefore, only apply the extension to pupil OUs
- For Windows, you have multiple options to exclude staff. These include, for example, excluding any captures from a machine in an AD group which includes the word %staff% or similar. Find out more about groups here.
How will it identify pupils where schools have class logins?
The user name with which the device was logged in is displayed alongside any captures - this is how schools can see who triggered the alert. The DfE Standards for filtering and monitoring state that schools should ensure “users are identifiable [...] so concerns can be traced back to an individual". Therefore, we recommend that schools use per-user logins as this will ensure effective filtering and monitoring. Without this, you could use a method such as numbered devices and a log of which pupil uses which device at a given time, but this may inhibit an effective safeguarding response. The same applies for webfiltering with SchoolProtect, so we recommend this as an opportunity to roll out class logins via your preferred directory system (AD, Entra, Chromebook, etc).
Can I submit a bulk request for multiple schools rather than fill out many forms?
For Multi-Academy Trusts:
We appreciate multi-academy trusts may wish to sign up many schools at the same time. So that you don't need to fill out the form in duplicate for all your schools, we can send you a template to upload information in bulk. This will include technical contacts and the DSLs for each school. This step will follow a eligibility checking for all your schools, so if you have not already, please complete the expression of interest form at monitoring.lgfl.net for your trust and we will be in touch.
For IT support organisations:
We know the important role of IT support organisations (internal, LA and third-party) and appreciate that you may be asked to commission software on behalf of many schools. Where you have been asked to complete the form for all your schools, we can send you a template to upload information in bulk, which will include technical contacts and the DSLs for each school. However, this step follows eligibility checking for each of your schools. Please note that you should not request monitoring products without the express knowledge of the Headteacher or Designated Safeguarding Lead of each school - they will be notified when you make a request for each school. This is because it is essential that there is safeguarding team buyin to the product as it will be capturing highly sensitive information which must be dealt with rapidly to keep children safe.
What else do I need to know if I am from a MAT?
Please note that we will set up schools within a MAT with the presumption that they will be centrally managed and should sit under the umbrella organisation. This will not mean that DSLs in a single academy will see captures from another but it will mean that the central safeguarding team can see all schools and also the central technical team can do similar from a technical and configuration side. Schools filling out an expression of interest form will be asked if they are part of a trust and who the overarching trust technical and safeguarding leads are. We may not have this information if you were one of the early adopters so do reach out to let us know in case we have not been able to find it.
Please note that if you are part of a MAT but wish to be a standalone setup (this cannot be changed so be sure that all parties agree) rather than a subsite of your MAT's portal, you must let us know.
Are firewall changes needed?
No, we have ensured that all LGfL firewalls are ready to go and Senso will work out of the box for all our schools. You do not need to request firewall changes.
Do I need to roll out decryption?
No. Decryption (also known as https inspection) is essential for getting the best out of your SchoolProtect webfiltering system. However, the monitoring software works in a different way on a device level and therefore does not need this step upon initial install. Other Senso modules may require decryption, but not for the monitoring modules.
Will there be conflicts with Sophos?
No. We have tested this and are monitoring closely to spot any technical changes which could cause issues. You do not need to add exceptions for Sophos as this will be done by default.
Can I exclude certain software from being monitored?
Yes. You will be shown how to do this during training. A good example might be your safeguarding concern logging system, e.g. myConcern or CPOMS, where it would be inappropriate to monitor the content and you would also end up in a cycle of captures generating other captures. Full details are shown here.
Can you export serious captures to CPOMS & myConcern?
Yes - there is a button to export to CPOMS or to myConcern (also available as a simple download) which requires you to amend permissions within your logging system and you can find instructions here for CPOMS and myConcern.
Are there best-practice defaults?
Yes - these will be applied from Senso out of the box so you do not need to do anything. They include, for example, that logging is turned on to allow devices to be monitored, and that all themes are included.
Is it linked to USO?
No, the system is independent of USO. Those with access to the portal do so via Microsoft or Google logins
What about the other Senso modules (classroom / network manager tools)?
The LGfL-Senso relationship is centred on the monitoring tools for safeguarding but as a reseller we will be able to offer you the other tools Classroom Cloud and Network Cloud. Email monitoring.sales@lgfl.net for a quote (please include the number of devices you wish the quote to be for).
Who can I contact for more support?
Once your portal has been set up, you will be invited to training and sent key links to support guides. We will be adding to this LGfL knowledgebase over time so please bookmark this page (further FAQs are available for DSLs at monitoring.lgfl.net); you can also access full Senso technical guides at support.senso.cloud.
Where you have questions, please use the following inboxes: