DfE Connecting the Classroom project funding

[chrisgreenwood]

Same here. New cabinets, new switches...no UPS.

 

You would logically think they would approve it as its protecting your new equipment?

 

Goverment for you

[newpersn]

How do you start the process of this?

 

I have tired to email DFE to get more information but not heard nothing back.

[atcoates]

How do you start the process of this?

 

I have tired to email DFE to get more information but not heard nothing back.

The DFE would contact the school directly. you would only get contacted if your school or LA was in the next wave. Does your school meet any of the criteria here...

 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/connect-the-classroom#who-can-take-part

[Mrpower]

How do you start the process of this?

 

I have tired to email DFE to get more information but not heard nothing back.

 

Our headteacher had an email about the project back in feb. You might want to check with them or check the junk mail folder.

[newpersn]

The DFE would contact the school directly. you would only get contacted if your school or LA was in the next wave. Does your school meet any of the criteria here...

 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/connect-the-classroom#who-can-take-part

 

Yes - Location and Ofsted rating match

 

I will have a word with the Admin staff and find out.

[DrCheese]

Yes - Location and Ofsted rating match

 

I will have a word with the Admin staff and find out.

 

It depends on when you failed your ofsted tho - If you failed after the scheme in your area started, you won't get it. (I can't tell you how much this annoys me)

[newpersn]

It depends on when you failed your ofsted tho - If you failed after the scheme in your area started, you won't get it. (I can't tell you how much this annoys me)

2 schools are due anytime

 

One was ofsted'ed end of Feb.

[newpersn]

• Schools in Priority Education Investment Areas.

• Schools in the remaining Education Investment Areas that were evaluated as Requires Improvement or Inadequate at their most recent inspection, before January 2022.

Unfortunately, your schools are not listed with us against either of those criteria and will not therefore be invited to join within the current three-year period, please accept my apologies as I appreciate this will be disappointing news.

 

Never mind...

[DrCheese]

Never mind...

 

Yarp, it's utterly unfair. A total lottery based on when Ofsted could be bothered to turn up to your schools.

 

(Yes, I am really bitter about this scheme)

[bitznpcz]

Yarp, it's utterly unfair. A total lottery based on when Ofsted could be bothered to turn up to your schools.

 

(Yes, I am really bitter about this scheme)

Completely agree. Some schools get thousands whilst others have to limp along with outdated, insecure networks. There must be something we can collectively do to change this situation...

[mavhc]

Main question is why massively overspec a small percentage of schools instead of installing something actually suitable at half the price to twice as many schools

[timbo343]

Main question is why massively overspec a small percentage of schools instead of installing something actually suitable at half the price to twice as many schools

I've had my eyes opened to this in the last few months since looking after our primary schools.

 

We have a primary school of around 50 students and they have put in 5x Aruba 515 APs (cost of nearly £1k each) and an expensive 48 port PoE switch. I mean really??

 

Is it really going to boost the Ofsted rating considering this was on the back of an Ofsted rating from years ago!?

[bitznpcz]

I've had my eyes opened to this in the last few months since looking after our primary schools.

 

We have a primary school of around 50 students and they have put in 5x Aruba 515 APs (cost of nearly £1k each) and an expensive 48 port PoE switch. I mean really??

 

Is it really going to boost the Ofsted rating considering this was on the back of an Ofsted rating from years ago!?

If Ubiquiti APs and Switches were included, you could kit the whole school out for less than a grand!

 

Giving each Primary a ring fenced £5k and each Secondary £25k would have been a better solution all round. At least you could start replacing aging APs and Switches.

 

It makes no difference to the Ofsted outcome whatsoever but doesn't penalise the Good and Outstanding schools like the current system.

[Primus]

If Ubiquiti APs and Switches were included, you could kit the whole school out for less than a grand!

 

Giving each Primary a ring fenced £5k and each Secondary £25k would have been a better solution all round. At least you could start replacing aging APs and Switches.

 

It makes no difference to the Ofsted outcome whatsoever but doesn't penalise the Good and Outstanding schools like the current system.

 

You can get a a derogation from DfE if you can prove Unifi is your platform across the trust. That said even with Unifi switches and APs one of our schools is getting a spend of not far off £300k because of the number and length of the cabling runs.

[yac2016]

Update the DFE are now approving Unifi without any questions since they set minimum budget per school.

[Primus]

Update the DFE are now approving Unifi without any questions since they set minimum budget per school.

 

Wow, we had to jump through hoops to get our Unifi spend approved. I dread to think what our spend would have been with Meraki or Aruba considering it was circa £300k with Unifi.

[Aprice]

I've had my eyes opened to this in the last few months since looking after our primary schools.

 

We have a primary school of around 50 students and they have put in 5x Aruba 515 APs (cost of nearly £1k each) and an expensive 48 port PoE switch. I mean really??

 

Is it really going to boost the Ofsted rating considering this was on the back of an Ofsted rating from years ago!?

 

 

 

Ouch 1K each, definitely some margin on those.

 

You should at least get some decent lifespan on them, it is good kit. (just not a big fan of Aruba Central - especially for switching)

[timbo343]

Ouch 1K each, definitely some margin on those.

 

You should at least get some decent lifespan on them, it is good kit. (just not a big fan of Aruba Central - especially for switching)

 

The price of the IAP-515 has come down a lot now, but the latest one is i've been involved with is a Meraki install! Outrageous! I've got the school asking, what happens in 10years? Well you have to renew the license or purchase a whole new wireless and switch infrastructure.

[ITGURU]

After realising they had been trying to contact us for a year one school In our trust is entitled. I dont get how wifi improves t and l and ofsted grades! we have other sites with older kit and not full site coverage where it would benefit more

told wish list can only include switches if improving the WiFi so let's just swap our site AC points for WiFi 6 then!

seems waste of money to me considering the site have sub 50 laptops in use and not allowed to increase qty.

I've sent topology diagrams and switch tech specs in hope they'll approve with the new poe switches to again replace already existing switches!

[Mr.Ben]

After realising they had been trying to contact us for a year one school In our trust is entitled. I dont get how wifi improves t and l and ofsted grades! we have other sites with older kit and not full site coverage where it would benefit more

told wish list can only include switches if improving the WiFi so let's just swap our site AC points for WiFi 6 then!

seems waste of money to me considering the site have sub 50 laptops in use and not allowed to increase qty.

I've sent topology diagrams and switch tech specs in hope they'll approve with the new poe switches to again replace already existing switches!

This is the approach we have taken as a Trust . Of the 6 eligible, all have had WiFi replaced in the last 4 years to a good standard (although cabling was repurposed cat 5e).

 

All have now had cat 6a wiring put in place and all of the 'old' AP and switches taken down (just under 50) have been reused in other schools.

[chrisgreenwood]

Just curious

 

we are getting our work done next month (hopefully), 9 new switches got ordered (we currently use 21 2930F) and a bunch of APs.

 

I am assuming they'll leave the original switches in and just add the extra 9?

 

As 9 won't be enough to keep our school networked up?

[timbo343]

Just curious

 

we are getting our work done next month (hopefully), 9 new switches got ordered (we currently use 21 2930F) and a bunch of APs.

 

I am assuming they'll leave the original switches in and just add the extra 9?

 

As 9 won't be enough to keep our school networked up?

Yup, they won't touch the existing kit. They are putting the new kit to run the new kit. If you want to tap into the new kit because there are spare ports available - fill your boots.

 

One of our schools is having Meraki installed next week, the current switches remain in place and the new switches will run side by side. The old Aruba 105 APs will be ripped out on an evening, new APs installed in the new locations. We will be removing the old switches once installation has been done and use the new kit utilising any spare ports.

[chrisgreenwood]

Yup, they won't touch the existing kit. They are putting the new kit to run the new kit. If you want to tap into the new kit because there are spare ports available - fill your boots.

 

One of our schools is having Meraki installed next week, the current switches remain in place and the new switches will run side by side. The old Aruba 105 APs will be ripped out on an evening, new APs installed in the new locations. We will be removing the old switches once installation has been done and use the new kit utilising any spare ports.

 

Perfect, i think they mostly got new switches for the wifi APs (they are the 2930M). Trust IT are hoping to claim some of our 2930F but i don't think they'll get as many as they want due to us planning full PoE CCTV.

 

Not really looked into CTC that much but i am assuming its mostly wifi based and i wasn't involved in the inital walk around, just seems a waste ripping out APs to replace them with the same model

[SimplyJade]

Perfect, i think they mostly got new switches for the wifi APs (they are the 2930M). Trust IT are hoping to claim some of our 2930F but i don't think they'll get as many as they want due to us planning full PoE CCTV.

Not really looked into CTC that much but i am assuming its mostly wifi based and i wasn't involved in the inital walk around, just seems a waste ripping out APs to replace them with the same model

 

It originally started out as a WiFi deployment scheme but it gradually expanded to switches and back end as a lot of schools had ancient networks. I'm glad they expanded the scope tbh, as sticking in WiFi 6 into schools who were using 10 year old Dlinks was a struggle

[chrisgreenwood]

It originally started out as a WiFi deployment scheme but it gradually expanded to switches and back end as a lot of schools had ancient networks. I'm glad they expanded the scope tbh, as sticking in WiFi 6 into schools who were using 10 year old Dlinks was a struggle

 

ours is weird as we have like 505s and 515s (Aruba) APs but for some reason they decided to do our school so they're all getting ripped out and we're getting way more access points and 10gb switches for them then the APs we originally have will go elsewhere in trust or in school