Connect the classroom scheme
Throughout the Covid19 Pandemic, the Government issued devices to many schools across the country to enable pupils to complete their schoolwork at home. It soon became clear upon returning these devices into the classrooms that the school WiFi and infrastructure wasn’t at a decent standard to sustain the ongoing use and addition of more much needed devices in school.
In 2021 the Connect the Classroom scheme was introduced as a pilot scheme for 1,000 schools. The scheme allowed these schools to upgrade their wireless networks to the next gen Wi-Fi 6 standard to future proof them for many years ahead.
This scheme has now been extended to the 55 areas selected as Education Investment Areas to raise school standards.
The resources that can be provided are extensive and will ensure that all parts of the Wireless Infrastructure are sufficiently upgraded. The summary below highlights what is possible: CAT6 cabling to all Wi-Fi AP Data points, Core & edge Switches, Wi-Fi 6 System, all installation costs and licencing / support for many years, links between buildings can also be upgraded to fibre to improve all round connectivity.
The invite will be sent to each school and the first step will be to return a completed Network Asset Form which your IT Support provider will need to help you complete. The more information you can provide on this form, the better. It is important to highlight any weaknesses in your current system so these can be taken into account.
If the DfE accepts your application to replace the existing system, they will send you a confirmation email containing a number of documents including technical guidance, supplier information, a cost matrix and technical summary. Once you have this you are then ready to contact an approved partner who can help deliver the project. At the time of writing this article, if you Google ‘dfe connect the classroom 2022’ there are many approved suppliers shown. Your existing IT support provider should be able to provide guidance for you and assist accordingly.
Why Wi-Fi 6 you may ask? At this time, only the latest of devices support Wi-Fi 6, most modern devices in the last few years support the AC (Wi-Fi 5) standard which is still fast, however Wi-Fi 6 has much more to offer such as improved device battery life, much faster speeds than Wi-Fi 5, improved safety protocols and an increased number of devices supported by one router. The main downside to Wi-Fi 6 is the higher cost of installation and requirement for the latest device models that support Wi-Fi 6.
We don’t have the latest up to date devices, which new devices support Wi-Fi 6?
Apple iPads - 10th Generation iPad, iPad Air & iPad Pro. The 9th Generation iPad is still the most popular iPad in schools but still only supports Wi-Fi 5 (AC).
Windows Laptops, Apple Macbooks & Chromebooks - Wi-Fi 6 is available on all of these, again the cost of these devices is much higher than the affordable devices that most schools use in larger numbers for the pupils.
It will be a few more years before Wi-Fi 6 is standard on all the affordable devices that schools will purchase. The main benefit of this scheme is to ensure that the infrastructure is in place for the future to provide the best service possible for all devices.
All schools that we work with that qualify have now had a fully funded Cisco Meraki solution installed. A recent discussion with our installation partners on these projects, they infomed me that there are still many school sho have received the invite from the DfE and have not acted on it. Apparently one school leader has refused to take up the offer as they don’t believe in funding private enterprise. This is a very serious error in judgement and must be brought to account by the DfE and OFSTED.
Nigel Milligan
IT Director.
