Primary School Trust says Stone’s Installation of Connect the Classroom revolutionises communications

Learn Academies Trust (Learn-AT) is a charitable school trust comprised of Church of England and community primary schools. Established in 2016, the trust has 11 primary schools based in Market Harborough and in neighbouring villages like North Kilworth, Lubenham, and Blaby.

Learn-AT is a civic organization with a mission to build a community in which pupils flourish and colleagues thrive, with learning and fellowship as core values that guide every decision.

Joe Bladon is the IT Systems Manager for the Trust and, along with a technician, is responsible for ensuring the IT for 2,500 pupils and 450 staff is managed effectively

Stone: experts in Connect the Classroom

Connect the Classroom (CTC) is a fully-funded programme from the Department for Education (DfE) that aims to improve wireless infrastructure in 600 schools across the UK. It’s designed to provide schools with a comprehensive wireless networking solution (including a Wi-Fi 6 upgrade) that covers cabling, core and edge switching and wireless access points.

Stone is renowned for its technology expertise in the primary education sector and has formed a partnership with the DfE to work with any of the DfE’s recommended CTC vendors - including the networking experts at Cisco Meraki. Stone has delivered projects across 47 schools through the CTC pilot scheme and is well-versed in the process thanks to its account managers, project managers, technical staff and engineers.

Joe said: “Once the DfE had passed the relevant information to us we started to investigate the project and it was immediately clear we would need to work with an experienced partner to ensure an effective installation.”

The Trust went through an internal tender to find a suitable partner. It had worked with Stone in the past and so invited Stone to take part in the procurement process. Joe said Stone won the tender because its proposal was far better than other offerings.

“We had other companies that were pitching identical technologies and using the same brands but had different designs when it came to implementation,” said Joe. “Stone’s experience was immediately apparent – their team had really listened during our initial meetings, and it was clear they appreciated how our schools worked, and this was apparent from their design proposals. We have several small primary schools in rural locations and so were keen to maximise their Connect the Classroom funding in terms of the number of devices we could connect to the new infrastructure. Stone was imaginative in this regard, while other tenders just followed the spec word for word.”

Stone rises to the challenge

The Trust had secured funding for seven schools to receive complete network rebuilds alongside cabling, Wi-Fi and switching equipment. While all the branded equipment was provided by Cisco Meraki, Stone managed the project and undertook the pre-configuration and installation.

“The challenge for Stone was having to work during term time without disrupting the day-to-day business of education,” said Joe. “We had a running order of which schools needed to be prioritized, but each one was done back-to-back so the Stone team finished one and then immediately moved to the next.”

As the work was carried out during term time, site access was big challenge. When it came to running the cables, some had to go through loft space above classrooms to avoid disrupting lessons.

Joe adds: “I was pleased to see that they had their own cabling staff, which is often outsourced. Every job had the same team who knew what they were doing and knew how to handle difficult cable routes in a small primary school. The Stone project manager would alert me to any issues around difficult access and then come back to me to check I was happy with his preferred solution. I was kept fully informed and updated through every step of the project and I was always amazed at their ability to secure stock at a time when the whole industry was facing post-Covid shortages.”

“It took careful planning and Stone had to be flexible when it came to implementation as it was crucial the day-to-day running of the school was not interrupted. In some cases this meant that the Stone team had to be prepared to work outside school hours. Everything had to be thoroughly planned and communicated in advance. Installing a new Wi-Fi system and an entire new network for each school is a major job and I must admit the first switchover was nail-biting. However, everything went smoothly and there were no glitches. Even if there had been, Stone provided an additional engineer to be on-hand to manage errors.

New networks change the game

The Trust’s Connect the Classroom funding provided 250k for an advanced specification – Cisco Meraki switches, wireless access points and fibre optics -– and Joe said the programme has been a ‘game changer’ in terms of networking and future-proofing the schools.

“The programme is a major investment for seven of our schools,” said Joe. “The new Wi-Fi means faster access for staff and pupils and allows us to connect more devices at any one time. Prior to this, if thirty pupils were online it could sometimes take down the entire system. The new installation also provides a secure network for visitors for the first time.

Bladon explained that LearnAT’s seven-school upgrade “could not have happened” without the Department for Education’s Connect the Classroom programme, which provided essential funding that the Trust wouldn’t have been able to find without the DfE’s support. Bladon was also pleased with the DfE’s “straightforward and smooth” application process.

“As well as individual schools benefiting from the new system, it’s really useful for me as I now have a single dashboard that can oversee all schools. Having this remote access saves me a lot of time as I no longer have to go to sites once or twice a week. Now, I can troubleshoot from my laptop. With just two of us responsible for IT, this has made a huge difference to how we manage our time.”

The Trust is now talking to Stone about other projects including cloud backup and telephony.