Introduction to telecoms for schools and colleges
Welcome to the Introduction to telecoms for schools and college. This site gives an introduction to the issues around provision of telecoms for schools and related educational establishments.
Which organisations do we include?
Our list would include nursery, primary and secondary schools and academies in the public and private sectors, as well as Sixth form colleges, colleges of Further education, large training organisations, and Universities.
There is a parallel between the requirements of educational establishments and health organisations.
Small nursery / primary school requirements.
In a small school the requirements can be quite minimal.
Taking and making calls:
You might expect to take and make calls on two outside lines. A PBX which routes these lines to any extension gives maximum flexibility.
Extensions:
Generally not all areas require extensions, although judicious placing of extensions will improve internal communications. Think about extensions for head teacher, deputy head, staff room, kitchen, secretary's office, special needs, and any more remote places in the building. Decide how important a phone in each classroom is.
Voicemail :
Voice mail is useful if you operate with a part time secretary and your staff are fully occupied with children.
If your organization has more specialist needs, then these can be discussed with a reputable leading telecoms supplier.
Larger school and college requirements.
In large organisations you would find that requirements vary by the scale of the organization. The basic requirements are similar to the smaller organisations, but scaled up and on a cost effective basis.
For a large or secondary school:
- The value of the phone system as a means of communicating internally cannot be underestimated.
- Consider departmental and pastoral requirements for phones in addition the core of phones suggested above.
- Deciding on the number of lines in and out generally depend on the number of staff who need to answer calls or make outgoing calls. In a secondary school environment the number of incoming calls may be similar to the number of outgoing calls.
- Wiring the system is a big issue. If the school is already wired for a computer area network, using Category 5 cable, then the phones can operate down the same wires, which means that adding phones is a simple matter. Be aware though that when wiring a computer network which might be used for your digital phone network, it is always best to wire sockets in pairs, so you can run a phone to one socket and a pc to the other.
For a College or University:
All the above still apply, although the wiring system is often much more complex. Modern phone systems can use controllers and PBXs which are capable of massive upgrading, so that plug in modules increase the capability of a college phone system.
Also rather than a typical digital phone system, it is possible to use an IP phone system, which handles SIP and VoIP . This makes for a very easily upgradeable and modifiable system.
Although this is an introduction to the issues. The starting point for implementing your system is to talk to a reputable telecoms provider.
