Dear Headteacher/Business Manager
Ultrafast broadband bid success for Plymouth
Following my letter in March I am pleased to inform you that we have been successful in our funding bid to the Department of Culture Media and Sport for Local Fast Fibre Network project. The funding will bring a super-fast fibre broadband connection to NHS and public sector buildings, including academies and grant-maintained schools in Plymouth, offering download speeds of up to one Gigabyte a second.
What this means for your school.
Your school has been selected as a candidate for the free installation of a Fast Fibre connection. Potential benefits of having a superfast broadband service include:
- enabling more devices to be connected simultaneously; entire classes could livestream media onto devices, or interact in a virtual environment
- faster and more reliable access to online teaching materials
- improvements to back office systems relying on the internet as part of its functionality; data and files can be transferred between schools and departments more quickly
- future-proofing your digital infrastructure and connectivity to support upcoming developments in digital education methods and tools.
Next steps
Please register an expression of interest with us at by 5pm Friday 24 May 2019 at the latest. Registering an interest does not commit your school to anything at this stage, we will contact you to arrange a full briefing.
There is no obligation for your school to take this up and I would also like to stress that this funding is only for the infrastructure. Your school would be required to set up an independent broadband service contract with a supplier to provide this, and this is outside of the scope of Plymouth City Council’s involvement with the project.
To register an interest, or if you need any additional information at this stage, please contact the LFFN Bid Project Manager, Paul Marten at paul.marten@plymouth.gov.uk or 01752 306535.
Warm regards
Andy Ralphs
Strategic Director of Customer and Corporate Services