Stone Group Connect the Classroom Guide

with Stone Group

Contents What is the Connect the Classroom programme? 3 How do I get involved?

3 What’s the process?

4 Case study: Bishop Wilkinson’s School 8 Why work with Stone?

10 Getting started: checklist 11

What is the

programme

?

Maintaining a state-of-the-art IT network with appropriate safeguarding measures in place is vital within modern learning environments.

Connect the Classroom (CTC) is a government programme delivered by the Department for Education (DfE) that allocates funding to selected schools so they can rollout modern wireless internet and network switches. For certain projects where a school’s current infrastructure falls below the DfE’s minimum standard, there is also funding available to help with hardware, fibre, cabinets, and underlying cabling where required.

The DfE initially rolled out the first three waves of the programme as a pilot scheme, targeting around 1,100 schools throughout the UK. Stone Group was awarded 47 CTC contracts through this period, working with very small schools to some of the largest secondaries in the UK to help improve their infrastructure and provide reliable tech and support services. The success of the programme has culminated in the DfE announcing another threeyear programme, including £150m of investment.

How do I get involved?

Participation in the CTC programme is by invitation only – there is no application process.

The programme covers 55 authorities, 24 of which are priority education investment areas.

All schools in those priority education investment areas are contacted and targeted as part of the programme. Within the remaining 31 authorities, the schools that were rated as ‘requiring improvement’ or ‘inadequate’ in their last OFSTED inspection will also be targeted and funded as part of the programme.

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What is the process?

Notification

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Ensure you look out for any communications from the DfE identifying your school as being eligible for the CTC programme, including in spam or junk email folders. All correspondence and funding is at a school level, so email notifications of your invitation or acceptance will be sent to the individual school. Make sure you know who the DfE has on their records as the main point of contact, and that this is kept up to date. Where schools are part of a multi-academy trust (MAT), the responsible bodies will also be contacted. You’ll receive an invitation pack containing documentation including the approved technical requirements, and a cost matrix for your chosen supplier to complete. The pack also includes a standard template that you will need to present back to the DfE to receive your funding approval letter.

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Initial Assessment

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If you choose to work with Stone, we first carry out an initial assessment, which involves a relatively high-level discussion (via phone or video call) about what’s needed to deliver the project. We’ll then send you an initial assessment and bill of materials which can be shared with the DfE to help them understand the scope of the project and its associated value. You’ll then receive an approval letter for the value quoted as part of the initial assessment.

Technical on-site review

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This is a more detailed on-site review, taking elements such as current cabling, fibre, and cabinet infrastructure into account. The survey will either confirm the initial assessment or suggest refinements to the solution so we can modify the initial assessment and gain further funding for the difference if required. You can then digest and send our specially curated quote to your DfE IT adviser to carry out quality and specification compliance checks and ensure the design proposed represents value for money.

Selecting a vendor

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Once the project has been approved by the DfE, you can select your vendor.

There are only a handful of vendors that fully meet the minimum technical specification the DfE provides for the CTC programme through all or part of their range. The DfE has deviated outside of these vendors upon exception, but where possible, you are encouraged to stick to the mainstream enterprise grade partners. Stone can work with any of these partners.

Stone Partners for CTC Benefits of our partnership • Enterprise technology for the classroom • Cisco Umbrella security – Free of charge for 3 years - Umbrella blocks requests to malware, ransomware, phishing, and botnets before a connection is even established • Comprehensive 10yr warranty with all security and feature upgrades.

• Single and Multi-site low touch management – Managing single or multi-site schools is simple and intuitive, accessed via a single, cloud-based platform.

• Cisco Meraki expertise – Stone hold the highest level of partner accreditation possible

Benefits of our partnership

Benefits of our partnership

• Enterprise technology for the classroom • Lifetime warranty provision • Single and Multi-site low touch management – Managing single or multi-site schools is simple and intuitive, accessed via a single, cloud-based platform

• Cambium Wireless solution can extend existing implementations within Trusts • Cloud based management – single interface per site, or multi site management • Lifetime warranty - 5yr warranty from End of sale notification

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Technical workshop

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The workshop aims to collect the technical information about your network. The DfE has its own acceptance criteria, which largely informs what we will test against, how to identify potential risks and issues, and how these can be planned for accordingly. During this stage we’ll also discuss and agree on an acceptance criteria that will determine what the project’s success looks like to you.

Statement of work

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Next, we produce a statement of work which outlines exactly what’s going to be delivered. This includes the number of data points and cables that we’re going to run, down to the technical configuration of the network switches and access points. Once the statement of work has been reviewed and signed by the school representative, a design freeze is put in place.

Installation process

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For primary schools, installations are usually scheduled during term time, but Stone engineers are well-versed in the challenges this can bring and co-ordinating their working hours around teaching and learning to minimise disruption. The minimum downtime period is generally about an hour and will always be agreed and scheduled in advance – usually after hours.

A five-day install typically looks like this: • Cablers on site Monday to Thursday • Network engineer on site Wednesday and Thursday • By Thursday evening, the network engineer will have completed the work and have a fully functioning wireless network in place • The team will return on Friday morning to carry out go-live support and user acceptance testing, and deliver training and a comprehensive handover for technical staff For secondary schools, installations are generally carried out during holiday periods due to the volume of the work and disruption involved – it’s much harder to carry this out with the constant movement of pupils around the school. The installation will follow a similar timetable to the above but will usually span two weeks.

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Top tips for a smooth-sailing process Before carrying out the initial assessment with a Stone engineer, it’s helpful to have a good idea of where the dead spots are in your wireless coverage and where coverage needs to be improved, either internally or externally

It’s also helpful to familiarise yourself with the cables running throughout the school. The programme does extend to cabling if needed, so older or underperforming cables need to be flagged at the initial assessment

It’s useful for the school representative carrying out the initial assessment to follow the process all the way through, for consistency

The DfE is encouraging schools to make multiple smaller claims upon the invoice of the goods and all services, rather than claiming the bulk cost back at the end of the project. This means you can get the money back into the school faster for a better cash flow.

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Customer Viewpoint

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Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust consists of five secondary schools and 43 primary schools across Durham, Northumberland, Sunderland and Gateshead. 14 of its schools were targeted as part of the first three waves of the CTC programme, with just over £470,000 awarded from the DfE. Andrew Freeman, director of ICT services at Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust, takes us through the experience.

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Andrew Freeman, Director of ICT services at Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust

Tell us about your IT plans prior to being involved with CTC

“

10

?

Before we heard of the CTC programme, we’d created a vision for our central IT services with the end goal of going serverless; CTC has meant that we’ve been able to fulfil a lot of our vision a lot quicker than we would have otherwise been able to. We’d already started that transition to serverless in two of our schools, which were then chosen as part of the CTC programme.

The DfE outlines that if a school is chosen but it has relatively new kit, that kit can be released to another school in your trust but the named school needs to receive the CTC kit. Therefore, we donated that kit to another two schools in the trust, which effectively meant that we got pretty much new kit across 16 of our schools!

”

Can you talk us through the initial application stages

“

?

We had an initial conversation with our DfE contact on Teams during lockdown and were told how many and which schools were included as part of the programme.

As a trust, we then audited those schools to provide a breakdown of the makes and models of the existing switches, and whether any still had warranties. After the initial audit, we worked with a Stone consultant to determine the layout of the access points and any dead spots in the coverage, which was then followed up with a site visit so Stone could make sure the information they’d put together on the initial plan was fit for purpose. We prepared the documentation and sent it off to the DfE, and they quickly came back with an agreement of the funds and our application went forward based on what was put in the initial installation letter. We were then able to place our order directly with Stone. We chose Meraki as our vendor as we believed it would be the best fit for our schools. We already had it across three of our secondary schools and already had an idea of how it works, how userfriendly it is for both end users and IT staff, and how scalable it is.

”

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How did the install go

“

?

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 dates were in the diary, the cabling team attended the site. The cabling work for the primary schools was carried out during term time and there was very little disruption, if at all.

Because we had a number of schools being worked on in the same area at the same time, we had the added benefit of having the cabling teams being local. So, if the network team encountered any issues, the cabling team could return to the school and respond quickly.

On the go-live date, Stone delivered a thorough technical handover and made sure there was support on site to help members of staff get set up. Once everything was sorted, Stone completed the user fittings form so the full amount could be paid.

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What difference has the CTC made to the selected schools

“

?

We’re now benefitting from fully-funded true broadband connectivity. All primary schools now have a 100MG connection (where they previously had 20MG) and the secondaries have 1GB. We now have greater confidence in our cybersecurity protocols.

Before, some of our kit was so old that it no longer had warranty or service packs available, leaving many vulnerabilities and loopholes across the network. The new infrastructure has made our cybersecurity tighter, and, because we’ll have one network for the whole trust moving forward, there won’t be a weak link across any of our 48 schools.

All staff now have laptops and use Azure Cloud Services, which enables those staff that work or teach in multiple schools to easily move around and connect. We’ve had nothing but positive feedback across all the schools.

Maintenance is also much easier for the central ICT department.

Rather than having to visit school to restore issues, the Meraki dashboard is all cloud-based, so 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 will automatically raise a ticket in our helpdesk, which allows us to be more proactive to prevent downtime.

We also have 10-year licenses and warranty for additional longevity and peace of mind. Then, in 10 years’ time, we’ll start the whole cycle again to replace WiFi and switches across all these schools.

”

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Why work with Stone?

The supplier you work with is entirely your choice. The DfE simply provides you with the mechanism to fund your programme and do not mandate who you select as your partner and the processes you use to do that. It’s the responsibility of the school or MAT to make sure the internal processes are followed and audit requirements are satisfied.

But, if you do choose to work with us, here’s what we can guarantee: • You’ll be supported by your Stone teams throughout – from the technical staff you speak to at the beginning of the process through to the account managers, project managers, and on-site cablers and installers.

• Wide choice of vendors – Stone can work with any of the DfE’s recommended CTC vendors.

• Experience – Stone delivered projects across 47 schools through the CTC pilot scheme and is already well-versed in the process and how best to support schools and MATs. Plus, we’ve delivered solutions to the education sector for over 30 years, so you can be sure you’re in safe hands.

“

Stone really listens to its customers. It’s not just about selling the product to you that is just fit for purpose.

They’ll 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.

Andrew Freeman, director of ICT services at Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust

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Getting started: a checklist Been contacted by the DfE with an invitation or acceptance letter?

Here’s how you can best get prepared so we can hit the ground running: • Have your allocation letter and documents to hand • Make sure you have access to your most recent network plans – as well as a good idea of what and where you need to improve • Decide who the key contact/s are within your organisation – and ensure they can see the process through from start to finish • Outline the key contact/s to consult around the financial commitments of the programme. This will ultimately mean you can claim your money back quicker and more smoothly • Set aside time to complete a short technical consultation call to initiate the first stages of the programme – it won’t take long but it’s an important step because it sets the foundation for all future correspondence that you have with the DfE around your project. The more information you can provide at this stage, the smoother the entire process will be • List site contacts to ensure access for the technical evaluation • List any storage facilities for equipment (if deployment is being phased)

Ready to kickstart the process?

Simply get in touch to speak to an account manager and start the process to innovate, enhance and amplify your classrooms.

www.stonegroup.co.uk/contact-us

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