Client Background
St Joseph’s RCVA Primary School promotes the development of each student through a stimulating environment and a broad, balanced curriculum. It is one of 31 schools across the North East to be re-built through the £4.4 billion priority school building programme (PSBP).
The Challenge
At St Joseph’s the old school building was completely replaced by a newly constructed single-storey building which required full networking and infrastructure.
UCS was responsible for the delivery of an up-to-date network throughout the new school building. It was essential to create a supporting infrastructure that would meet students learning needs and last for many years.
What UCS Technologies Did
We consulted with several parties to ensure we got the best solution that would work for the school and its pupils now and in the future. Understanding the school's ICT requirements involved several meetings between representatives of the school, local council, EFA and construction contractors. We needed to clearly understand how ICT was used to aid teaching and learning; it was necessary to identify any improvement that could be implemented.
The Technical Solution
The final solution included installing leading-edge passive cabling and active equipment infrastructure throughout the building. category 6 UTP cabling was installed throughout the new school building to services low-level outlets for PCs, printers and IP telephones. High-level outlets for Wi-Fi access points and projectors were also installed. The variety of outlets were paired with an active equipment LAN; switching to Hewlett Packard. The internal and external LAN covering various teaching areas were provided by Aerohive Wi-Fi solutions. A Mitel telephony solution was deployed within office areas to desk handsets and with Wi-Fi handset roaming capability. HD Projectors and interactive screens were installed throughout classrooms to create the ability to share and access a variety of media.
Key Features
- Category 6 UTP outlets
- 80Gbps inter-switch backbone
- 1Gbps to the desk
- 802.11ac Wave 2 wifi
- Cabled and wireless IP Telephony
- UPS protection for switches & servers
- HD projectors & interactive whiteboards
The Outcome
The school’s staff and pupils now enjoy a reliable and secure, functioning network that operates at peak performance. There is a high performance wired and wireless infrastructure that is scalable to meet the school’s continuous development. If the needs of the school ever change, the solution implemented is future proof requiring minimal effort to adapt.
Hi-speed internet connection allows staff and pupils to access demanding content wirelessly via tablets or mobile devices. The wireless connection extends to open access spaces within the school allowing learning anytime and anywhere.
