Stone and Cisco Meraki connect classrooms for Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust
Background
Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust (BWCET) consists of five secondary schools and 43 primary schools across Durham, Northumberland, Sunderland and Gateshead.
Fourteen of the Trust’s schools were selected in the first three waves of the Department of Education’s (DfE) Connect the Classroom (CTC) programme - and overall the group’s selected schools were awarded just over £470,000 of funding.
Andrew Freeman, Director of ICT Services at the Trust, knew that his school had obsolete networking infrastructure that sorely need an update - and the Connect the Classroom funding was able to accelerate his plans.
He didn’t just need that funding, though. Freeman came to Stone for guidance on the best way to spend the money and was able to work with Stone to develop the ideal Cisco Meraki solution for his group of schools.
The result? A better result for the Trust on a faster timescale. For learning outcomes, it’s a win-win.
Challenge
Before he’d heard of the Connect the Classroom programme, Freeman already had an ambitious plan for the BWCET’s IT central IT services: to go serverless. He’d developed a three-year development plan to deliver the changes.
“We decided to move to a serverless environment to reduce our hardware purchasing costs,” explained Freeman. “We also wanted a better backup solution and to give staff a way to access their documents from any location.”
It made even more sense given BWCET’s previous deployment. The school’s networking and wireless infrastructure was extremely outdated and no longer supported by its manufacturer.
Solution
The BWCET plan was certainly achievable within that three-year timeframe, but a combination of the CTC programme and Stone’s expert involvement “meant that BWCET was able to fulfil lots of our vision a lot quicker than we would have been able to otherwise.”
The trust was able to use the Connect the Classroom programme to intelligently make the funds stretch further, too. “We’d already started our serverless transition in two of our schools, and they were then chosen to be part of the CTC programme. The DfE outlines that if a school is chosen but has relatively new kit, that equipment can be released to another school in your trust - while the original, named school receives the CTC funding and equipment.”
It’s a neat rule that allowed BWCET’s funding to have more of an impact. “We donated that relatively new equipment to another two schools in the trust, which effectively meant that we got pretty much new kit across sixteen of our schools - not the original fourteen!”
That was a welcome bonus for the trust, and Andrew found the Connect the Classroom application process relatively straightforward - including his early contact with Stone.
“We had an initial conversation with our DfE contact on Teams during the first COVID-19 lockdown and were told which of our schools had been chosen for inclusion.”
The ball was then passed to BWCET. “As a trust, we audited those schools to provide a breakdown of the makes and models of their existing switches, and whether they still had warranties or support contracts.”
That audit informed Freeman that his existing systems were, indeed, extremely out of date. However, at that point, more guidance was required to work out how best to allocate the Trust’s BWCET funding.
“After our initial audit, we got in touch with Stone. Our Stone contact determined if we had any dead spots in our coverage and what kind of access point layout we’d need. Our Stone specialist also helped us determine exactly which Cisco Meraki solutions we would need for our needs.”
“Stone followed that up with a site visit so they could make sure that the information they’d put together for our application was fit for purpose. We prepared our documentation with the help of Stone and sent it to the DfE, and they quickly returned with an agreement on our funding allocation.”
Stone’s involvement didn’t stop when it came to helping BWCET create a plan that impressed the DfE.
BWCET “was able to place our order directly with Stone. We chose Cisco Meraki as our vendor because we believed it would best fit our schools. We already use their products across three of our secondary schools so we’ve got an idea of how it all works, how scalable it is, and how user-friendly it is for both end users and IT staff.”
Deployment
Freeman was impressed with Stone’s efficient and thorough installation procedures. “In the run-up to the installation we had weekly catch-ups with our main contact at Stone, which was really useful to help agree dates and timescales. Once the order was placed and the date was in the diary, our first visit came from Stone’s cabling team.”
Anyone having IT work carried out during school hours is bound to worry about disruption to learning, but Freeman confirmed that “the cabling work for our primary schools was carried out during term time and there was very little disruption if any.”
And because Stone was carrying out cabling work at several BWCET schools simultaneously, the Trust “had the added benefit of having cabling teams staying locally. So if the network team encountered any issues, the cabling team could return to the school and respond quickly.”
When it came to the all-important go-live date, Stone supplied BWCET with a “thorough technical handover” and “made sure there was on-site support to help staff get set up on the new hardware”.
Once installation was completed, Stone “completed the user fittings form so the full amount could be paid” - an example of Stone’s circular approach to IT procurement.
Benefits & Results
BWCET’s new networking installation has greatly improved the Trust’s networking. Freeman enthused that “we’re now benefitting from fully-funded, true broadband connectivity. All primary schools now have a 100Mbit connection, which is a huge upgrade from their previous 20Mbit connections. Our secondary schools all now have 1GB connectivity.
Faster internet means more connections for more pupils, better learning outcomes, and an improved working environment for staff. But for BWCET, the benefits go beyond speed.
“We now have greater confidence in our cybersecurity protocols. Previously, some of our equipment was so old that it was no longer under warranty and it wasn’t upgradable with service packs. That left many vulnerabilities and loopholes in our network. The new infrastructure has made our cybersecurity far tighter and, because we’ll have one network for the trust moving forward, there won’t be a weak link across any of our schools.”
Staff benefit, too. “All staff now have laptops and use Azure Cloud services,” explained Freeman. That “enables those staff that work or teach in multiple schools to move between schools and connect easily. We’ve had nothing but positive feedback.”
The Trust’s IT staff also appreciate the Stone-supplied hardware and software. “Maintenance is now much easier for our ICT department. Rather than having to visit individual schools to address issues, the Meraki dashboard is cloud-based. At the touch of a button we can see the best connection for each port and exactly what each port is doing. If any issues arise, they’re flagged and a ticket is automatically raised, which means we can be more proactive and prevent downtime.”
Stone’s solution also has the future at the forefront of everyone’s minds. “We have ten-year licences and warranties for additional peace of mind,” said Freeman, and “in ten years’ time we’ll start the whole cycle again to upgrade our wireless networking across all of these schools.”
Ultimately, this project has delivered faster, more secure and more reliable wireless networking to sixteen schools, and Stone was able to help BWCET win an appropriate amount of funding and allocate it properly, with appropriate products for the Trust’s needs.
Freeman has nothing but praise for Stone and recommends the company to any school that needs to properly allocate its Connect the Classroom funding. “The company really listens to its customers. It’s not just about selling you a product. Stone will work closely with you to determine your exact requirements and suggest the best product for your needs. And if you have a budget in mind, they’ll try and fit within that.”
Stone commits to finding the right products at the right prices. Combine that with our specialist deployment engineers, our support staff and our warranty and license management and it’s easy to see why schools choose us to handle the whole IT procurement lifecycle.
