We continue to work with Sandwell schools to build and support their music offer. It is our goal
to encourage every school in Sandwell to work with us, so that there is an equity of opportunity
for children to learn a musical instrument during their time at school.
We are aware of the recently disclosed critical PHP security vulnerability highlighted by the Department for Education.
SIPS has undertaken a review of the services and infrastructure that we manage, both internally and on behalf of our customers, and can confirm that:
At present, we have identified no evidence of impact to services managed by SIPS as a result of this vulnerability. School websites hosted with SIPS were updated to the latest supported version of PHP at 9am on Thursday 22nd October 2026.
Please note that this assurance relates only to systems and services managed by SIPS. Where schools operate their own websites, applications, servers or third-party services outside of SIPS IT management, assurance should be sought directly from the relevant provider.
We are engaging with key third-party education software providers whose services are widely used within schools, including Management Information Systems (MIS) and related platforms. Where suppliers have published statements regarding their assessment of, and response to, this vulnerability, links to those communications are provided below for customer reference.
The information provided in the supplier statements linked below is published by the respective organisations and remains their responsibility.
Third-Party Supplier Statements
Parent Pay Group – https://www.parentpaygroup.com/messages/php-security/
Bromcom – https://community.bromcomcloud.com/announcements/post/security-update-recent-php-vulnerabilities-z5MatQ9HROLVgWZ
Arbor – Arbor has communicated directly with customers regarding its assessment of this vulnerability. If you require a copy of this communication, please contact us.
Compass– Thank you for reaching out to us about the recent security issue affecting PHP. We want to reassure you that Compass is not affected, as the Compass platform does not use PHP.
There is no action needed from your school, and you can keep using Compass as normal.
We will continue to monitor developments and will take any additional actions required to protect services and customer data.
