More bandwidth? No problem! Janet Network helps independent school transform student experience
West Buckland School’s plan to deploy one-to-one devices meant they needed a new network provider for more bandwidth and first-rate customer service.
Space to innovate
West Buckland School is a high-performing, independent co-educational day and boarding school in North Devon. In 2022 the school decided to give every pupil from Prep 5 to year 13 their own device to support innovative approaches to learning and teaching and equip youngsters with vital digital skills and confidence.
The move’s success depended on finding a better network provider. The contract with the current one was ending, customer service was poor and the school needed a future-proof solution to underpin increased use of digital tech in all aspects of school life.
Like many schools West Buckland weren’t sure Jisc’s services were available to them, but they contacted our helpdesk and asked the question.
Sector specialists
In fact, we work with a growing number of forward-looking independent schools to provide reliable, scalable connectivity via our Janet Network.
As a not-for-profit specialist working across the education and public sectors we act as an impartial adviser to help customers specify and implement the digital solutions they need.
The Janet Network is our high-speed, highly stable and secure network developed specifically for education and research organisations. It is scalable with global reach and world-class cyber security protections.
West Buckland School liked our proposal for a connection to the Janet Network and scheduled an implementation during the school summer holidays. As our network has hundreds of direct peerings, including to major cloud providers and key content providers like the BBC and Netflix, pupils and staff can use it extensively both for learning and in their leisure time.
The switchover was “seamless”. We took charge of the bulk of the install and testing process and then gave the school a cable to simply plug in, carry out their own test and go live. James Hart Prieto, director of digital innovations and systems at West Buckland comments:
“It’s a really reliable connection, I can’t fault it.”
Trusted partner
Switching to our network has been cost-neutral for the school and has given it almost limitless capacity.
This last point has been essential. Since the switch the school has given every pupil a Microsoft Surface Go and stylus from when they reach Prep 5 and a Surface Pro when they get to Year 10. As a day and boarding school, they are also permitted to have their own phones under the school’s bring your own device (BYOD) policy and so there are a lot of devices on the network. James comments:
“We don't stipulate how they must use their school-provided devices; the devices are extremely flexible, staff and students are using them in all kinds of ways including the use of digital ink and digital media, and uploading their work into OneNote without bandwidth limits. All that data is syncing and our bandwidth has gone through the roof.
“We are investigating Jisc’s other services for sure, we trust the impartial advice absolutely. It’s really useful to know, as a small organisation without a big IT function, that there’s an organisation we could call on if we needed to for services like security incident response.”
Like to know more about the Janet Network?
Follow West Buckland School’s lead and find out more about the Janet Network.