Aylesbury school uses latest technology to improve digital learning and teaching

A school in Aylesbury has improved its wireless connectivity with a hyper-reliable, easily managed wireless solution from education WiFi experts Redway Networks.

Sir Henry Floyd Grammar school's new ExtremeCloud IQ WiFi 6 infrastructure will support digital teaching and learning by providing a secure, robust wireless network for over 1,300 pupils.

Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School, based in Aylesbury, is a Google school and part of the Insignis Academy Trust, which is committed to using the latest technology to enhance learning and teaching.

All students have their own Chromebooks for learning and with teachers’ laptops and other connecting devices, such as smart phones which students can have on them during the day, typically over 3,000 devices are connecting to the school’s network.

As the number of devices within the school grew and it deployed more technology and newer hardware, it became apparent that the school’s existing Ruckus WiFi couldn’t cope with all the

devices connecting to the network, so it needed to improve the infrastructure.

John Huskinson, chief operations officer at Insignis Academy Trust said: “Our legacy Ruckus WiFi solution was not ideally located or configured, and we knew it wouldn’t cope well with the school’s increase in devices and digital learning.

"Our trust is committed to having the latest technology that is fit for purpose so it was obvious we needed a new high-performance WiFi solution that would seamlessly connect all the school’s devices and could support the whole end-to-end IT experience.”

As the school upgraded all its staff laptops and more devices and smart phones required compatibility with WiFi 6, the trust identified that to support the school’s future network capacity it needed to upgrade its Ruckus system4 with a new robust WiFi 6 solution that would future-proof the school in terms of technology for the next ten years.

After researching educational WiFi providers, the trust shortlisted two suppliers for Sir Henry Floyd’s proposed wireless local area network (WLAN).

John said: “We wanted a single system that could provide seamless network capacity and handle our traffic requirements both now and for the future.

"We also required a cloud-managed system for complete network visibility, which is important when students have their own device.

"I was impressed with Redway Networks’ reputation and experience within the education sector and I liked the fact that they were relatively local in Milton Keynes.”

After evaluating both ExtremeCloud and Meraki, Redway Networks came out on top for both products in terms of cost and technical knowledge.

John added: “We now have a high-performance, secure WiFi 6 infrastructure that will support our technology needs for the next ten years.”

“In five years’ time every student at the school will be tapping into videos and streaming in high definition and teachers will be using more video and AI for teaching and I’m confident that any amount of traffic we throw at our new network won’t kill the WiFi.

"I am very happy with our ExtremeCloud IQ and I’ve been really impressed by the service and support we’ve received from Redway.

"They’ve been great throughout the whole process and I feel that we have formed a real partnership.”