Edtech charity LGfL has pledged to supercharge connectivity across its 3,000-strong consortium of UK schools. The move will place its members at the forefront of global digital education, enabling them to make use of cloud computing, 4K streaming and virtual reality in the classroom.
The project, entitled Pledge 2020, will see schools see (on average) a significant 200% increase in bandwidth at no extra cost to their subscription. The minimum connection speed for a primary school will be 100 MBPS and 500 MBPS.
Schools will also benefit from free secure storage and disaster recovery. Called GridScore, it means schools can back up their data in a safe server where everything is encrypted. In the event of a disaster, schools can pull down a copy of their data, load it back onto the system and resume use almost immediately. Every secondary school will be given 100GB of free storage, while every primary or SEND school will gain 50GB.
“This we believe will create one of the world’s fastest educational networks and place LGfL schools at the forefront of digital leadership globally,” said LGfL’s CEO, John Jackson – an edtech strategist dedicated to improving educational outcomes by accelerating innovation and edtech disruption worldwide.
“As part of the upgrade, we’re taking the opportunity to replace old equipment with the latest technology which also means that LGfL can upgrade any primary or secondary schools without having to change the firewall or the router,” added Jackson.
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“As a result, schools wanting more bandwidth can avoid expensive and disruptive kit replacements. All schools will be upgraded over the course of 2019 and 2020.”
Committed to using its group purchasing power to save thousands of pounds for its members, LGfL estimates that a primary school using all the products covered by their LGfL subscription, Let’s Get Digital, can save (or achieve additional value) of approximately £7,000 per year and £17,000 for a secondary school.
Thanks to the negotiation of a groundbreaking deal, members can also make savings on CPD and licences for Adobe Creative Cloud – the industry-leading creative and digital tools used for graphic design, video editing, web development and photography, which come with a set of mobile applications and optional cloud services.
“Last year the creative industries contributed over £100b to the UK economy – by providing significant software like Adobe’s Creative Cloud, we can help to equip the next generation of school children with skills to thrive in the future workplace,” said Jackson.
Every LGfL school can claim an allocation of Adobe licences at adobe.lgfl.net – 30 free licences are available for primary schools and 120 for secondary. This software would cost thousands if purchased independently.
For further information visit pledge2020.lgfl.net, call 0208 408 4455 or email