Thrapston Primary School in Northamptonshire teaches approximately 480 pupils from Reception through to Year 6. It has specialist unit provision for children with special educational needs and a nursery.
In October 2023, the school joined Brooke Weston Trust. The school already knew its network connectivity was inadequate, and the trust’s due diligence process had prioritised improving it.
Using funding from the Department for Education’s Connect the Classroom (CtC) scheme, the trust worked with RM, its managed service IT partner, to update connectivity across the school.
The school consists of several modern and Victorian buildings spread over a large site. An uncoordinated assortment of network hardware provided unreliable connections in some parts of the school. Other parts, including the school hall, the newly opened SEND unit, and outside areas, had no connection at all.
Pauline Turner, Principal
Brooke Weston Trust and RM were already working on CtC scheme projects at other trust schools. Using the same process, the trust submitted a successful application to the DfE.
RM worked with HPE Aruba Networking hardware to ensure the new infrastructure met the relevant DfE networking standards and provided the resilience school environments need.
Sharon Webb, Senior Vice Principal
RM removed the existing systems and replaced them with the following:
RM planned the installation to minimise disruption. Much of the work took place outside school hours to avoid inconveniencing pupils and staff.
Michelle Wenham, Chief Operations and Resources Officer, Brooke Weston Trust.
Network connections have improved enormously. From hand-held devices used by pupils to interactive screens, everything connects smoothly and remains online.
In the school’s SEND unit, the ability to use tools such as speech-to-text and more visual resources has helped pupils with autism or speech and language challenges access learning more easily. As a result, the school has doubled the number of places available in the SEND unit. In addition, best practice developed by experts at the Thrapston unit can be shared easily with other schools in the trust.
Sharon Webb, Senior Vice Principal
The impact on teacher workload has been multi-faceted. Teachers no longer need to plan lessons which include a backup plan for when online resources are not available. Collaboration in the school, and with other trust schools to avoid duplication of effort, is far easier thanks to reliable access to centrally held information. For example, Thrapston’s early careers teachers (ECTs) can contribute to and benefit from planning and resources developed by their peers in other trust schools.
Previously, one person would try to download an entire subject curriculum in one go and then distribute it to colleagues by email. Now, teachers can access the latest version of any resource online when and where they need it.
Like many schools, Thrapston uses online systems for recording, reporting, and responding to safeguarding matters. Being able to access these systems reliably ensures that those with safeguarding responsibility are aware of any incidents and have taken the appropriate action.
With network access now possible in outside areas, it’s much easier to manage fire drills or an actual emergency. Staff can access class registers to determine a pupil’s whereabouts and obtain parent or carer contact details if necessary.
Brooke Weston Trust uses a single M365 tenancy to underpin much of its operations—in the classroom and administratively. The improved ability to access the trust’s central team and other schools has helped Thrapston quickly become part of the trust and benefit from its opportunities. Even something as apparently mundane as the ability to see others’ calendars saves time for busy teachers and administrative staff.
Pauline Turner, Principal