Broadband internet for schools: What you need to know

In a recent Education Executive feature, we explored the DfE’s latest initiative aimed at assisting schools in meeting IT service and digital equipment standards. Now, let’s delve deeper into the broadband internet standards for schools

To ensure your school meets the standards for broadband internet provision, it’s crucial to comprehensively understand your service, including your connection speeds and type. Once you’ve gathered this information, it should be recorded and utilised to establish a well-documented plan for safeguarding within your school.

Full fibre connection service

According to the guidance, schools must have full-fibre broadband to adequately address the requirements of students, ensuring seamless operation of all online learning platforms. This enables teachers to feel assured when employing digital learning tools. Additionally, schools can achieve cost savings by adopting cloud-based solutions instead of relying on on-site technical infrastructure, products, or services.

The guidance proposes that primary schools should maintain a minimum download speed of 100Mbps and a minimum upload speed of 30Mbps. For secondary schools, a connection with the capability to provide 1Gbps download and upload speeds is advised.

For schools approaching the conclusion of their existing contracts for broadband provision, it’s advisable to explore switching to fibre services. If you are not sure about how to go about this or have questions, you should ask your supplier or in-house support team to offer guidance.

Have a backup broadband connection

To uphold operational continuity, it is essential for all schools to implement measures to mitigate against a single point of failure. SBLs must develop an emergency plan encompassing details of backup broadband connections. They should explore available backup internet services and establish suitable systems with the support of their IT provider and assistance from the support team.

Safety protocols and systems

Stringent regulation is imperative for internet use within school settings to prioritise safety. All online materials utilised must undergo thorough vetting to ascertain their appropriateness, thereby safeguarding students from potentially harmful content.

These standard forms part of the existing keeping children safe in education guidance. SBLs should collaborate with internal and external teams, including suppliers, to ensure that content filtering aligns with the stipulations outlined in paragraphs 123-135 of the guidance, ensuring the safety and well-being of children. Internet safety standards should encompass the management of firewalls to ensure comprehensive protection. This responsibility can be handled either internally by the school or outsourced to an external provider.

Although this article provides a concise overview of the standards, we strongly encourage School Business Leaders (SBLs) to visit the gov.uk website for a thorough examination of the standards in detail. In the upcoming article within this series, we will delve into cyber security standards for schools.

You can find more information here: Meeting digital and technology standards in schools and colleges – Guidance – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)