Staff and pupils at Mill Ford School in Ernesettle are enjoying ultrafast broadband thanks to a new scheme designed to put Plymouth in the fast lane when it comes to download speeds.
The school is the first in the city to be able to access downloads speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second provided by the new Plymouth and SW Devon Local Fast Fibre Network (LFFN) scheme. This is double the broadband speeds the school could access before.
Mill Ford School, a special school for children with complex needs, is the first of 29 Plymouth schools that will be receiving a free ultrafast fibre optic connection via the LFFN project.
Last year, Plymouth City Council together with NHS Devon Care Commissioning Group, the University Hospitals NHS Trust, West Devon Borough Council and South Hams District Council and Delt Shared Services Ltd secured a £2.23 million grant from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport for the project.
Overall, the project will provide a free fibre optic connection for 130 public buildings in Plymouth and South West Devon, meaning key public services such as hospitals, clinics, doctors’ surgeries, schools, youth centres, libraries and council buildings will be better connected. Full fibre networks have connections offering download speeds of up to a gigabit per second. Since October 2020, BT and its contractor have been busy installing ultrafast fibre to these buildings, with all sites due to be connected by the end of July 2021.
Councillor Nick Kelly, the Leader of Plymouth City Council said: “Having a better connected city will be vital for economy of Plymouth and surrounding areas as we recover from the pandemic, and will help digital and creative industries in the area to thrive. It also means our public services can be a little faster and more efficient and it is great to see everyone at Mill Ford School able to enjoy faster broadband and all of the educational benefits that brings.”
Digital Infrastructure Minister Matt Warman said: "Mill Ford is the first to benefit from our £2.2 million investment to future-proof Plymouth’s primary schools and other public buildings with lightning fast gigabit broadband. Whole classes will be able to get connected for online learning with no interruptions and it means the school is now well-prepared to take full advantage of new advances in technology."
Claire Wills, Headteacher at Mill Ford School said: “As a special school for children with very complex needs we have been delighted to be one of the first school to receive ultra-fast broadband. It has really supported our children who can find it difficult to wait for downloads and it has also had a real positive impact on the pace of their learning.”
Samantha Toombs, BT's director of public sector and corporate in the South West, said: “It's clear that having fast reliable connectivity in our public services is not only helping people do their jobs, it can improve the experience and outcomes for citizens like the children at Mill Ford School. The pandemic has shown the vital role that digital technology and fast internet connectivity now plays in all our lives. Using the latest fibre and mobile technologies will help public services run more efficiently and offer new, innovative solutions.”
As well as helping public sector organisations improve their connectivity and online services, the project aims to build the foundation for the introduction of wider ultrafast connectivity in the area, and the Plymouth scheme has done exactly that. Since the partnership was successful in attracting LFFN funding to the area, several major telecoms companies have announced major investment in the city over the next few years aimed at providing residents and businesses with upgraded ultrafast connectivity via fibre and 5G wireless services.