info@telgroup.co.uk 
0800 652 1900Mill Ford School Case Study
Wi-Fi, Broadband, Smoothwall, Telephone Systems and CCTV
THE CLIENT
Mill Ford is a school with a specialism in meeting the needs of children and young adults aged 3-19 with complex needs.
The school aspires to deliver an exciting curriculum and learning environment, but their technology and connectivity held them back.
Since 2021, Tel Group have worked with the team at Mill Ford to steadily enhance their technology, adhering to budgets and sticking to timescales to plan and prioritise each individual installation.
THE SITUATION
Mill Ford School approached Tel Group looking to enhance their teaching and learning environment with advanced technology solutions.
With a significant amount of upgrades required, including Wi-Fi / Broadband, Online Safeguarding, Telephony and CCTV, Tel Group worked with Mill Ford, and continues to do so, to provide reliable ICT solutions throughout the school.
THE OBJECTIVES
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OBJECTIVE 1
Improve school connectivity with a robust Wi-Fi and Broadband Solution.
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OBJECTIVE 2
Safeguard students from accessing harmful material on the internet.
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OBJECTIVE 3
Enhance the school’s communications with a futureproof Phone System.
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OBJECTIVE 4
Improve staff, student and premise security with a reliable CCTV System.
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OBJECTIVE 5
Enhance all ICT solutions whilst managing costs and sticking to budgets.
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OBJECTIVE 6
Seamlessly integrate modular classrooms into existing network infrastructure.
“I can highly recommend Tel Group, both David and Brendan were amazing to work with. Nothing was too much trouble!”
– Andrea Howard, School Business Manager
WI-FI AND BROADBAND
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OBJECTIVE:
Improve school connectivity with a robust Wi-Fi and Broadband Solution.
THE SITUATION
With poor Wi-Fi coverage across their premises and no integration across sites, Mill Ford’s main priority was to resolve their connectivity issues.
Tel Group quickly discovered that Mill Ford School were eligible for the DfE’s ‘Connect the Classroom’ scheme, entitling them to a fully funded upgrade and saving the school thousands.
THE PROCESS
Tel Group visited Mill Ford School to begin their funded Wi-Fi overhaul and started by installing Cat 6 Ethernet cables, upgrading them from Cat 5e.
18 internal and 1 external Access Points (AP) were installed across the premises, providing a huge overhaul from their previous 9 APs.
With 3 classrooms in buildings separated from the main premises, 3 additional APs were installed to provide full network coverage on the same network.
In conjunction, Tel Group also provided Mill Ford School with Full Fibre Broadband (FTTP), equipping them with a reliable, dedicated and ultrafast broadband technology.
This robust and scalable solution has helped Mill Ford deliver the exciting curriculum and learning environment they longed for.
SMOOTHWALL SAFEGUARDING
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OBJECTIVE:
Safeguard students from accessing harmful material on the internet.
THE SITUATION
With significantly improved connectivity after their Wi-Fi and Broadband upgrade, utilisation of the internet in lessons and independent learning had increased.
Mill Ford School therefore needed to put a plan together to improve online safety for students, preventing them from accessing harmful material online.
THE PROCESS
With Smoothwall being the UK’s number one education filtering software, Tel Group installed Smoothwall’s safeguarding solutions across all devices.
This software enabled Mill Ford School to meet DfE regulations, block unauthorised content and websites and monitor usage.
They now have peace of mind knowing they can rely on Smoothwall 24/7, providing instant alerts and detailed reporting on students activity.
CCTV
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OBJECTIVE:
Improve staff, student and premise security with a reliable CCTV System.
THE SITUATION
Looking after their students, staff and premises was of upmost importance to Mill Ford School, and they knew CCTV was the perfect safeguarding solution for this.
Although they previously had CCTV cameras around the premises, supplied by Tel Group a few years prior, they decided it was time to increase the quantity of cameras to provide maximum security.
THE PROCESS
Tel Group visited site to upgrade the CCTV system and install new cameras, consisting of 7 internal dome cameras and 9 external bullet cameras. As a thank you for continuing to use Tel Group as their trusted supplier, free yearly maintenance for the old cameras was provided.
As Mill Ford is a special school, contractors entering the premises whilst students are present sometimes makes the students feel quite anxious. To accommodate for this, all work was conducted out of school hours to prevent being intrusive during the school day, ensuring the premises were fully secured when completed.
TELEPHONE SYSTEMS
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OBJECTIVE:
Enhance the school’s communications with a futureproof Phone System.
THE SITUATION
Currently using an outdated analogue telephone system and having extra budget to work with after saving on their Wi-Fi upgrade, Mill Ford decided it was time to upgrade their telephone system.
They also knew the BT Switch Off was approaching, so it made complete financial sense to upgrade.
THE PROCESS
Tel Group visited site to install their brand new hosted telephone system which included 18 extensions and complete staff training, providing the school with seamless communications.
MODULAR CLASSROOMS
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OBJECTIVE:
Seamlessly integrate modular classrooms into existing network infrastructure.
THE SITUATION
After installing two modular classrooms on-site to accommodate students, Mill Ford School tasked us to fully integrate these cabins into the school’s current network infrastructure with advanced technology solutions.
THE PROCESS
To ensure reliable connectivity, we installed two network link cables to each modular classroom. These cables were essential for providing the backbone of the network infrastructure, ensuring high-speed internet and internal network access.
As well as this, each modular classroom required a dedicated network cabinet and switch to manage the local network traffic. We extended the network infrastructure to support Wi-Fi, CCTV, laptops, and interactive boards.
To bolster their current security system, we added six new CCTV cameras to the existing system on the exterior of the portable cabins.
For access control, we installed five Paxton door access points across the two cabins, allowing Mill Ford to control the entry in and out of the classrooms.
To complete the project we set up Wi-Fi access points for robust network connectivity and installed interactive boards to aid teaching and learning objectives.
