RM and Comms-care improving classroom connectivity

RM has chosen Comms-care as its installation partner to support its activities under the the Department for Education (DfE)-funded Connect the Classroom (CTC) scheme.

The education specialist has reached out to the Ingram Micro-owned Comms-care as its partner to install network connectivity and help ensure classrooms are able to tap into high-speed internet.

RM has been part of the CTC programme since 2021 and the plan is for Comms-care to help deliver installation and infrastructure, commissioning and installing wireless solutions and refreshed network equipment to 150 schools this year.

“UK schools are facing significant challenges that could be improved by better broadband, and facilitating and improving pupil access and outcomes,” said Jason Tomlinson, managing director at RM Technology.

Alex Wilmot, managing director at Comms-care, said that the firm is looking forward to working with RM and getting into classrooms.

“The ability for the education system to realise the benefit of technologies like these affords increased efficiencies in teaching, improved accessibility and greater inclusion for students which, in turn, create positive outcomes at all levels,” he said.

The CTC scheme is addressing a real need in classrooms across the country to widen connectivity and ensure that more spaces in the educational environment are places where students can access technology.

Tomlinson said that schools had changed over the past few years and the DfE was keen to work with a number of IT partners to react to those emerging needs.

“The days of a single computer lab are long gone and today almost every classroom requires a robust and reliable internet connection. Improved learning is only a single factor of a much wider web of connectivity needs: schools need a strong and stable network for everything, from security cameras to their canteen systems,” he said.

“Essentially, connectivity facilitates almost every aspect of the modern day school – whether that’s internal or external. As a result, the demand for connectivity in schools is higher than ever,” he added.  

Tomlinson said that the number of schools that neeed support was also sizeable: “When technological products and software are embedded into so much of education, a fast and reliable network is no longer a ‘nice to have’.

“Good connectivity is part of the resolution to the growing digital skills gap. As reported by WorldSkillsUK, 76% of businesses believe that a lack of digital skills would hit their profitability. Building in technology that requires a strong network will have a massive influence of the technology schools can use and have a positive experience using,” he added.

Tomlinson said that the government is playing its part with efforts such as CTC to invest in the future and generate more skills.

“The government’s Connect the Classroom funding innovative massively supports this, particularly as the education secretary, Gillian Keegan recently stated that a critical priority for the government was meeting the basic technology requirements of schools. 

“In partnership, businesses, schools and the government must continue to focus on the network, ensuring that schools up and down the country – no matter where they are and how rural the location – are not left behind when it comes to internet access,” he concluded.