Securing Connect the Classroom DfE grant

We are all now connected by the internet, like neurons in a giant brain. - Stephen Hawking

When I first started working at Ridgewood, one thing I noticed which confused me was the lack of WiFi. Although WiFi maybe does not make much sense in a school for students, it can be a useful tool for teachers and opens up a lot of possibilities for the future. At Ridgewood, across eight buildings only two had WiFi which were the two newest builds done in 2019.

Working in collaboration with our managed service provider, RM, I was able to secure a grant from the DfE for a scheme known as Connect the Classroom. With this, I was able to secure £250,000 in funding which would provide the school with new WiFi 6 AP's, CAT 6 cabling and new 2.5GB Aruba switches across each building. Thankfully, no changes were needed to our fiber runs.

This project has been in the works for almost two years now and the work itself is going to start in the summer holidays of 2024. Some images below are taken from the project plan, including switch layouts and heat maps.