Connect the Classroom scheme extra funding

[JazzFlute]

Seems like the Connect the classroom scheme has been extended and got extra funding for those that missed out 1st time.  Always good to replace your existing working well equipment with stuff 5 times more expensive to prove your compliant i guess.

 

Digital standards: Schools could be held to account

[Cat_Jam148]

49 minutes ago, UpTheWolves said:

Seems like the Connect the classroom scheme has been extended and got extra funding for those that missed out 1st time.  Always good to replace your existing working well equipment with stuff 5 times more expensive to prove your compliant i guess.

 

Digital standards: Schools could be held to account

 

I know a lot of the schools in our local area were sorely lacking when it came to WiFi, so this program was a great benefit to them. Not every school has existing equipment which is working well or fit for purpose.

 

We were in the scheme too and it meant I could put the money set aside for our future WiFi project into something else. It came just at the right time.

 

Even if the equipment is a bit overkill, it is the right kind of investment from the DFE and I'm glad it's been extended. 

Edited March 21, 2025 by Cat_Jam148

[sigma]

Wondering if it means that more schools will be eligible?  None of the rural schools I’ve ever worked in ever has been.

[Sylv3r]

£25M doesn't sound a lot in the grand scheme of things.

 

We had 15 schools qualify in our trust (1 secondary and 14 primaries) and our grand total was over £500k.

 

I would much prefer if the funding would be awarded at Trust level rather than identified schools and that the trust (audited of course) could choose which schools best to utilise the funds - for example, a couple of the primaries that were identified to be eligible for the funding for us only had new WiFi installed 6 months previous. 

Edited March 24, 2025 by Sylv3r

[Wave9_Lee]

 

Any one can input into the consulation here:

https://consult.education.gov.uk/reliable-and-safe-technology/narrowing-the-digital-divide-in-schools/supporting_documents/Narrowing_the_digital_divide_in_schools_and_colleges_government_consultation.pdf

 

 

[Primus]

15 minutes ago, Sylv3r said:

£20M doesn't sound a lot in the grand scheme of things.

 

We had 15 schools qualify in our trust (1 secondary and 14 primaries) and our grand total was over £500k.

 

I would much prefer if the funding would be awarded at Trust level rather than identified schools and that the trust (audited of course) could choose which schools best to utilise the funds - for example, a couple of the primaries that were identified to be eligible for the funding for us only had new WiFi installed 6 months previous. 

We spent £300k on one secondary school alone and that was using Unifi too - would have easily been over £500k on Aruba or Meraki!

[PotNoodleTech]

300k on unifi??  Wow!

[TheHyperTechie]

Hopefully they can change the eligibility and allow more schools to see these upgrades.

 

I missed out on this opportunity with our school last year, we are located within a "education investment" area but due to our Ofsted rating at the time, didn't qualify.

[Primus]

31 minutes ago, PotNoodleTech said:

300k on unifi??  Wow!

I know! It's a large site, a big chunk was the single mode fibre and then the number of Cat 6a runs for the APs but still lots of APs and switches - 150 odd (U6-Enterprise) APs and circa 8 switches (USW-Enterprise-48-PoE) to support them.

[localzuk]

19 minutes ago, Primus said:

I know! It's a large site, a big chunk was the single mode fibre and then the number of Cat 6a runs for the APs but still lots of APs and switches - 150 odd (U6-Enterprise) APs and circa 8 switches (USW-Enterprise-48-PoE) to support them.

The Unifi stuff comes to about £50k from those items listed, so "big chunk" is an understatement for the cabling! Your site must be really large to need single mode fibre too, as 10GbE on OM4 can go 400m. 

[Primus]

13 minutes ago, localzuk said:

The Unifi stuff comes to about £50k from those items listed, so "big chunk" is an understatement for the cabling! Your site must be really large to need single mode fibre too, as 10GbE on OM4 can go 400m. 

Looking at our invoice (which was a little while ago now) we paid more than that as the APs alone were £80k - don't forget that the Unifi direct price doesn't include the DfE required warranty. The edge switching was also circa £25k so about a third or so was the Unifi equipment itself.

 

Single mode was a no brainer in so many ways - if we'd put OM4 in we'd have been running at its maximum bandwidth on day one, with single mode we have plenty of opportunities to upgrade the optics, that cable will last a very long time.

[speakercon]

I imagine a few champagne bottles were popped open on Friday night.

[localzuk]

21 minutes ago, speakercon said:

I imagine a few champagne bottles were popped open on Friday night.

My thoughts exactly. Those Unifi prices, even with extended warranties, are double the RRP from Unifi. UI Care on those APs is £59 per unit (extending the warranty to 5 years). So, U6-Enterprise + 5 year warranty should be about £300 per devices, around £45,000.

[DrCheese]

1 hour ago, HyperTech said:

Hopefully they can change the eligibility and allow more schools to see these upgrades.

 

I missed out on this opportunity with our school last year, we are located within a "education investment" area but due to our Ofsted rating at the time, didn't qualify.

 

 

Yes, we were the same. EIA area, but because our Ofsted grade was ok (Despite not being ofsted'd for years) we didn't get a penny. When we later failed our Ofsted, they dithered on if we should get it or not, ultimately saying no.

 

Tying it to Ofsted grades was silly - There are fairly new build schools near us that failed ofsted & yet could access the funding, despite having equipment that wasn't that old. Others with outstanding ofsted have ancient networking equipment.

 

They tried to link together the two things but they aren't remotely the same. Should have been done on IT need.

[localzuk]

If it were done on IT need, they'd need a much bigger budget @DrCheese. Looking at my current school as an example. Our oldest switches are from 2008!

[Primus]

5 minutes ago, localzuk said:

My thoughts exactly. Those Unifi prices, even with extended warranties, are double the RRP from Unifi. UI Care on those APs is £59 per unit (extending the warranty to 5 years). So, U6-Enterprise + 5 year warranty should be about £300 per devices, around £45,000.

That option didn't exist then, they'd only recently launched the U6-Enterprise AP.

[Primus]

4 minutes ago, localzuk said:

If it were done on IT need, they'd need a much bigger budget @DrCheese. Looking at my current school as an example. Our oldest switches are from 2008!

Doing well to still get firmware updates on kit from 2008 though!

[localzuk]

1 minute ago, Primus said:

Doing well to still get firmware updates on kit from 2008 though!

Yes... getting up to date firmware. Of course. I do wish we had some connect the classroom funding though, as it'd make my current work easier - putting together the business case for replacing all our switches and APs!

[Primus]

1 minute ago, localzuk said:

Yes... getting up to date firmware. Of course. I do wish we had some connect the classroom funding though, as it'd make my current work easier - putting together the business case for replacing all our switches and APs!

Yeah, funding is an enormous issue across the board.

[tmleafs]

Anyone that got the funding before did you do the process in-house or did you use a company to apply for the DfE Funding?

[JazzFlute]

5 minutes ago, tmleafs said:

Anyone that got the funding before did you do the process in-house or did you use a company to apply for the DfE Funding?

 

I used Stone/Converge which handled most of it as they know what to apply for so you have a good chance of it being accepted.

Edited April 28, 2025 by UpTheWolves

[mrstrong]

We've had the funding and used a company approved by the LEA so was no need to put out to tender or get several quotes.

Was quite shocked when I saw the invoice for around £100,000.

It does annoy me as I feel there is definitely an element of "profiteering". I'm sure it could have been done cheaper "in-house"

but of course it's not like you can get £100k from DfE then do it yourself for £50k and keep the change!

For an academy supported by an MSP I can see how it could be a real money spinner (for the MSP)

[tmleafs]

Thanks for replying
I got an email from Stone today about it, I hadn't heard of the Dfe funding before that email.

Do you have any idea about the previous requirements to be accepted?
We are all Gen 1 Unifi switches with Unifi AC Pros, we need more PoE ports we need 2.5Gbit minimum for new wireless points but 10Gbit would be amazing.
Our switches are slowly dying mainly the power supply which we replaced with an external brick to get them working again.

We have recently replaced all the data cabling ourselves due to a DfE Electrics update that didn't include data 🙄 so all cabling is cat6a except the IT Suites we stuck with cat 5e
 

[tmleafs]

5 minutes ago, mrstrong said:

We've had the funding and used a company approved by the LEA so was no need to put out to tender or get several quotes.

Was quite shocked when I saw the invoice for around £100,000.

It does annoy me as I feel there is definitely an element of "profiteering". I'm sure it could have been done cheaper "in-house"

but of course it's not like you can get £100k from DfE then do it yourself for £50k and keep the change!

For an academy supported by an MSP I can see how it could be a real money spinner (for the MSP)

So you got the funding directly but had to use a company to purchase and install?

What brand of hardware did you go for?
Did you have Cable, fibre, and network cabinets replaced or added?

[JazzFlute]

3 minutes ago, tmleafs said:

Thanks for replying
I got an email from Stone today about it, I hadn't heard of the Dfe funding before that email.

Do you have any idea about the previous requirements to be accepted?
We are all Gen 1 Unifi switches with Unifi AC Pros, we need more PoE ports we need 2.5Gbit minimum for new wireless points but 10Gbit would be amazing.
Our switches are slowly dying mainly the power supply which we replaced with an external brick to get them working again.

We have recently replaced all the data cabling ourselves due to a DfE Electrics update that didn't include data 🙄 so all cabling is cat6a except the IT Suites we stuck with cat 5e
 

 

The funding will also include new switches if needed and any CAT 6 cabling required to new Access Points only and 1 external Access Point.  Stone assign you a contact and then provide you with a few forms to fill and ask you for network toplology etc. and they usually plan it all along with a site wifi survey.  Apart from the time it takes you to do gather the required information then most of the bid is done by them and the installation of switches/cabling/Access Points by third parties they work with.