Staff Status Page

This page is also in the Groundskeeper wiki: https://github.com/rsjsoftwareltd/groundskeeper/wiki/Staff-Status-Page

A calm page for teachers and other staff that answers "is the internet up? should my email be working?" in plain words. Each line says Working, Having problems, Planned work or Not checked recently, and when it was last checked. It never shows device names, addresses or error text.

Prefer to watch? A 52-second video shows the staff page and the student page and what IT can choose to show. More in the how-to videos.

Where to find it #

Signed in: open /staff-status on the Groundskeeper address, as an admin, technician or SLT user.
Without signing in (optional, off by default): as an admin, open the staff status page and use the box at the bottom, Plain web page for staff desktops. Tick it, choose a port (the default is 8480) and save. The page is then served at http://<server name>:8480/.

Read this before switching it on. That address is plain HTTP with no sign-in, so staff see no certificate warning, but anyone who can reach that port on your network can read it. What it shows is only whether services are working, a short message from IT, and planned work. If your firewall blocks the port, open it for the staff network only.

If Groundskeeper sits behind a reverse proxy that provides its HTTPS, give the staff page a different server name (a DNS alias) from the one people sign in on: a browser sends its sign-in cookie to every port of the same name, and the staff page is not encrypted.

Putting it on staff desktops with Group Policy #

In a GPO that applies to staff computers (not pupil computers), go to User Configuration > Preferences > Windows Settings > Shortcuts.
New > Shortcut. Action: Create. Location: Desktop. Name: Is everything working? Target type: URL. Target URL: http://<server name>:8480/.
Apply it only to staff, using an organisational unit or security group. Do not apply it to pupil machines; they have their own student page.

What people see #

On both pages, admins get the same What people see card in the settings box at the bottom: a Show ... tick for every tile and every section, and one Save button. Everything is shown by default (on the student page, planned work is the one exception: off until you turn it on, and then a tile inside a maintenance window reads Planned work, with no time, instead of Having problems).

Staff page: each of the six tiles, Planned work, Message from IT, This computer (the personal check and the note about computers without the RSJ Agent) and Useful links.
Student page: Internet, School Wi-Fi, Learning websites, Planned work, Message from IT, Your places, Forgotten your password and Report a problem.

A hidden item is left out of the page entirely, including the plain web page, so nothing of it is sent. The words and addresses you typed are kept, so ticking it again brings it back.

Message from IT #

Admins can post a short message (up to 200 characters) shown above the lines for 1 hour to 3 days, for example "Printers in B block are off until 2pm."

Planned work #

A maintenance window (see Maintenance Windows) shows the matching line as Planned work, until 14:00. The window's name and devices are never shown.

Student page #

A sibling page for pupils, meant to be the browser home page on student machines. It is served by Groundskeeper inside the school, with no external fonts, scripts or images, so it still works when the school website is down. If the website is the home page and it goes down, everyone thinks they cannot get on their email; this page does not depend on it.

It shows, all chosen by IT, with nothing about machines or devices:

The school's name and logo (the ones in Settings, School identity), then Welcome.
Your places: IT's own list of shortcuts (up to 12, one per line, Title | https://address) such as Teams or Google Classroom, the learning platform, email and the library. This list is separate from the staff page's links.
Is it just me? Three tiles, only for what pupils use: Internet, School Wi-Fi and Learning websites, each Working, Having problems or Not checked recently, with the same rules as the staff page (a stopped connector is never shown as working). A tile appears only when that connector is set up. Planned work is off by default; see What people see above.
Forgotten your password? Help text you type (for example "Ask your form tutor, or go to the IT office in the library at break or lunch."), and optionally a Reset your password button to an address. Leave both blank and the card is hidden.
Report a problem: a Tell IT button to your own helpdesk or form. Leave the address blank and the card is hidden.
An optional Message from IT for 1 hour to 3 days, as on the staff page.

The page is called Student page by default. IT can rename it (for example Pupil page); the name is the page title and the menu label.

Where to find it and how to switch it on #

Signed in (preview): open the Student page entry under School pages in the menu, as an admin, technician or SLT user. Admins see the settings box at the bottom.
Without signing in (optional, off by default): tick Serve the student page without sign-in in that settings box. It uses the same listener and port as the staff page (8480 by default, set on the Staff Status page) at the path /student: http://<server name>:8480/student. The staff page and the student page each have their own switch; either can be on without the other. If only the student page is on, http://<server name>:8480/ goes to it.

Read this before switching it on. Like the staff page it is plain HTTP with no sign-in: anyone who can reach that port can read it. It carries only the three tiles, your shortcuts and text, and the school's logo, never device names, addresses or error text. Do not put anything private in the shortcut list.

Setting it as the home page with Group Policy #

In a GPO that applies to student computers, go to User Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Edge > Startup, home page and new tab page (and the equivalent Google Chrome branch if you use it).
Set Configure the home page URL to http://<server name>:8480/student, and Show Home button on toolbar to Enabled.
To open it when the browser starts, set Action to take on startup to Open a list of URLs and add the same address under Sites to open when the browser starts.
Apply it with an organisational unit or security group for students.

The page is the same for everyone and fetches nothing from the internet, so it opens instantly and keeps working through an outage of the school website or the internet link.

Last updated: 2026-10-25 (v0.193.5)