Rural primary schools to benefit from fast broadband rollout

Over 100 rural primary schools are set to get gigabit-capable broadband connections within the next few months as part of the Government’s commitment to improve internet infrastructure in rural areas.

Under the £3 million pilot programme, 3 schools have already been connected, and 52 have signed contracts with work expected to be completed in the coming weeks. There are also ongoing discussions with another 72 schools who are interested in participating. The trial was originally planned to reach 100 schools, but the project has been delivered under-budget, allowing even more schools to benefit.

The trial is part of the Government’s £190 million Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) programme. Once the fibre has been laid (with the school acting as a 'hub') connecting other premises in the area becomes much more commercially viable to broadband providers.

In the recent Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review, the Government aims to connect 15 million premises to full fibre broadband by 2025, and the whole of the UK by 2033.

Minister for Digital, Margot James said:

"These new speeds are enabling whole classes to simultaneously surf the internet on tablets as part of structured lessons, and gives schools easier access to online training and educational learning. Access to cloud services not only means savings as staff go paperless, but it has also enabled the decommissioning of the school’s local servers to reduce hardware, maintenance and IT support costs."

Mary See, Headteacher at Cheselbourne Village School, Dorset said:

"Having new super-fast broadband reach our school has revolutionised the way we work. The much faster and reliable access to the web has allowed staff to work more efficiently; while the children, although still geographically remote, are no longer technologically isolated and will have the same opportunities as their urban peers in preparing for a more technological future."