1:1 Programme
Laptops
We began our intensive use of Technology in 2010 with the introduction of a ‘Laptops for All’ model. This was supported by a parent lease scheme and significant school investment in a wireless infrastructure, technical support and training for staff and students.
Mixed
In 2014 we began the introduction of the iPad and a range of generic and educational apps. Students and staff responded very positively and we began to see real movement in learning. Independent research and use of electronic resources was possible almost instantaneously while assessing progress and collaborative learning became realities.
iPad
By 2017 Tomlinscote had become a 1:1 iPad school. We took the opportunity to invest further in people. Tomlinscote appointed an e-learning coordinator, Mark Morren in 2018. He is an experienced teacher with a leadership background. In 2021 Mark has transitioned into a new role at the Prospect Trust as Head of ICLT. He now supports all academies within the Trust focusing on Learning and Teaching with technology.
At present we offer three pathways for families to purchase an iPad: i) parents can lease a new iPad over a three year period, ii) parents can buy a new iPad with a one-off payment, iii) BYOi with specific guidelines on specification. The price includes insurance, MDM (Jamf School) and a rugged case for the device. At the end of this lease period families are given the opportunity to purchase the device, with a small final payment. At the end of Year 9 families have the option to buy the leased iPad for a small fee or return it to the school. A new two year scheme then begins for Key Stage 4. At present we have 99% of our school population enrolled on a scheme. By engaging with parents in this way there is very little financial burden for the school.
Infrastructure
In 2014 Tomlinscote started the phased rollout of a 1:1 iPad scheme, having previously used laptops. Whilst the laptops were ground-breaking at the time, they never quite managed to live up to expectations. Laptops were slow to start, and not robust enough to cope with teenagers, and so the arrival of the iPad enabled huge opportunities around digital learning.
As iPads started outnumbering laptops, there was a significant WiFi upgrade in 2016, which included new, high-density access points as well as many additional points to improve coverage and performance. In 2017, as the last of the laptops were retired, the WiFi underwent a complete redesign, in order to maximise the hardware and improve the iPad experience. This redesign enabled the use of Apple Classroom, a key learning tool, as well as allowing AirPlay to all classroom PCs.
To ensure that these devices stayed secure, and that our students are safeguarded appropriately, in 2018 a PaloAlto PA-850 next-generation firewall was implemented. This removed any potential traffic bottlenecks, as well as providing application level blocking without needing any end-user client installation.
The growing device numbers started to strain the existing 200Mb internet line, and so in 2019 Tomlinscote upgraded to a 1Gb line, providing better value for money than the old contract, as well as ensuring plenty of capacity for the site.
To increase network security, and streamline the network joining user experience, during 2019 the wired and wireless networks were redesigned, to take advantage of 802.1X authentication, and seamlessly authenticate users to both the network, and the internet.
This was followed by a massive network infrastructure overhaul in the summer of 2020, designed to not only future proof the site, but also to be as durable as possible. With the ever growing demands for 100% internet connectivity and network uptime, the network needed to be made as highly redundant and robust as possible. This was achieved by implementing a virtual core, of two Aruba 6405CX switches, with a 40Gb link between the two. A 10Gb backbone, with redundant links connects the two cores to 13 edge stacks, of Aruba 2930M switches.
Aruba then asked to do a case study of the Tomlinscote network, which should be published shortly.
In addition to the wired network infrastructure, the aging server infrastructure was also replaced, again being driven by the desire for resilience. Whilst as many services as possible are moving to the cloud, and so reducing the need for on-site servers, the existing server infrastructure was causing severe bottlenecks. A four node HPE ProLiant DL385 with Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct provides the underlying Hyper-V infrastructure that all on-site services run on; and designed in such a way that half the cluster is physically separated, providing greater failover. This ensures that key services such as DNS, DHCP and NPS are highly available, allowing the iPads and digital learning to keep on going, with the 10Gb backbone providing plenty of throughput.
Tomlinscote has now been a 1:1 iPad school for several years, and so there has been significant time and investment put into ensuring that the infrastructure can support this. As the technologies change and grow, so must the underlying infrastructure in order to support this, and ensure that there are no barriers to successful digital learning. To that end, a complete WiFi overhaul is planned for 2022, to bring the wireless infrastructure in line with the wired infrastructure and give a unified network.