Marland School

Marland School benefits from a new Mitel Connect telephone system that seamlessly links to other sites alongside internet connectivity, Wi-Fi and web filtering that befits an educational environment. Marland School is one of 10 special schools in the Devon- To achieve SIP voice connectivity, Marland School needed an wide SENtient Co-operative Foundation Trust and is internet connection that could support both the school’s maintained by Devon Local Authority. It caters for year four data needs and provide quality of service for effective voice to 11-year-old students who experience social, emotional use. and mental health needs and is located on two separate sites in North Devon – a day school in Barnstaple and a They had been using internet connectivity and web filtering residential school in Peters Marland. services from South West Grid for Learning but opted for our education-focussed and competitively priced The school was on the verge of adding a new wing to the alternatives. Peters Marland site. They had also taken on two additional special schools that they wished to connect to via a We provided a 100Mbps internet leased line to the school. centralised telephony, internet, Wi-Fi and filtering solution. This superior connection is ideal for supporting SIP services, which meant we could deploy a Mitel Connect VoIP They were using an ageing Toshiba telephone system and telephone system at the Peters Marland site and link to the with the news that the manufacturer was pulling out of the Barnstaple campus and Springfield Day Centre in Bideford telephony marketplace, Marland School took the decision to via new connections. upgrade to a VoIP solution that would be easier to manage in house and would meet their growing needs. This united the three as one. Calls can be received and transferred between the sites with ease while still retaining An investment in a multi-site telephony solution can seem the separate telephone numbers for each one. financially daunting but swcomms advised Marland School to migrate from traditional ISDN lines, which are being Other benefits of the Mitel Connect include: phased out, to internet-based voice services to find ongoing savings. • Resilience and reliability • Easy growth – in terms of users and extra sites Free calls and reduced line rentals are among the many • User friendly benefits associated with SIP, meaning these savings could • Easily upgradeable so future proof offset expenditure. SIP also allows them to pull the telephone numbers from each of the schools into the new The Mitel Connect is feature rich with a full automated centralised solution. attendant to relieve the pressure on receptionists, especially during the early morning period when incoming calls tend to peak. An absence voicemail allows parents to report pupil illness without having to wait to speak to a receptionist.

Voicemail messages can be remotely recorded in the event Marland has put the care of its Wi-Fi and data network in staff cannot reach the school, e.g. on a snow day, or when swcomms hands too. Cisco Meraki access points are returning from a school trip. And messages can be deployed at all sites which can all be monitored via a recorded on site to report timings of sports days, parents’ cloud-based management tool. The same tool can monitor evenings, etc. so reception staff do not have to repeat the devices using the Wi-Fi network too, including non- themselves to multiple callers. corporate devices.

Voicemail and voicemail-to-email notifications are available swcomms now looks after all of Marland School’s for all users to eliminate the use of paper messages tucked telephony, Wi-Fi, internet connectivity and web filtering in registers while staff can also use selective call recording services. to remind themselves of the details of any call. All handsets We have 35 years of experience in the education sector. come with tannoy facilities to alert staff to an emergency Schools make up 13% of our customer base so we are well situation. placed to take care of Marland School. Our service desk

and account management team provide full support and Staff that move around the school can use a PIN to login to ensure their communications services remain operational any handset to support hot desking while their mobile and optimised for their critical needs. devices can be twinned with their desk handsets so they can remain contactable wherever they are working. “swcomms listened to the schools’ growing needs and designed a solution that meets our requirements now and In addition to the new telephone system, Marland School into the future. opted for swcomms’ recommended web filtering solution designed specifically for schools. Not only does Smoothwall “We now have a full communications solution from one offer control over what web content students should or supplier, so we only need to every turn to them if an issue shouldn’t see by dynamically filtering out potentially arises or if we need to expand further. harmful content, it also meets of the demands of the Prevent Duty Guidance. “From sales through to project management and support, swcomms has been a pleasure to deal with.” Smoothwall gives in-house control to the IT staff by IT manager Jason Cox allowing them to filter by year groups and define networks for academic and administration purposes without having to raise a ticket and wait for their job to come to the top of the pile. Social media, file sharing, instant messaging and other potential distractions can be blocked or managed effectively. The IT team can gain access to reports on web traffic, device usage, etc.