Connect the Classroom: Free Funding - But Decisions That Will Last for Years

Many schools and trusts are now being contacted about the Department for Education’s Connect the Classroom programme, which offers fully funded upgrades to network infrastructure, particularly Wi-Fi. For eligible organisations, this is a rare opportunity to modernise connectivity without direct capital cost.

It is also a set of decisions that will shape what your school can and cannot do for many years to come.

Alongside my work in education, I volunteer as a director of a heritage steam railway. While travelling on one of our services recently, I was chatting to passengers during an extended stop at a station. People were checking their watches, some were becoming agitated, and a few were wondering aloud why we were still waiting. From their perspective, everything appeared ready: the train was in the platform, the line ahead looked clear, and nothing obvious was happening.

The answer was simple. We were waiting for a token exchange.

On single-line railways, a physical token — literally a shaped piece of metal — must be handed to the driver before a train can enter the next section of track. Only one token exists for each section. If you hold it, the line is yours. If you don’t, you wait. No negotiation, no shortcuts. Possession of the token gives the driver absolute confidence that no other train can be in that section of line.

Until I explained this, most passengers had no idea such a system existed. Once they understood, the delay suddenly made sense. What had felt like inefficiency was actually a fundamental safety mechanism.

School technology infrastructure is often the same. When it works well, it is invisible. When it is weak, everything slows down — not because people are doing anything wrong, but because the foundations are not strong enough to support the demands placed upon them.

Registers, safeguarding systems, cloud platforms, communication tools, assessments, finance systems and increasingly AI tools all depend on stable connectivity. When that foundation is unreliable, everything built on top becomes fragile. Staff experience frustration, delays and workarounds, but the root cause is structural rather than behavioural.

Projects funded through Connect the Classroom may therefore feel disruptive in the short term. Installation work affects teaching spaces, decisions take time, and there can be pressure to “just get it done”. However, rushing these projects or specifying only the minimum required solution can create long-term limitations that are far harder — and far more expensive — to correct later.

Unlike devices or software subscriptions, infrastructure decisions are not easily reversed. Once installed, they determine capacity, resilience and flexibility for years, often long after the people involved in the procurement have moved on.

Schools and trusts invited to participate in the programme should therefore approach it as a strategic investment rather than a technical upgrade.

Key questions leaders should consider include:

• Will the design support future demand, not just current use?

• Does coverage extend to all operational areas, not only teaching spaces?

• Are resilience, security and manageability built in from the outset?

• What ongoing costs or dependencies will remain after installation?

• Who will take long-term ownership of the infrastructure?

Passengers rarely think about token exchanges — until the train stops moving. In the same way, most people do not think about network infrastructure until something goes wrong.

Good leadership means recognising the importance of these fundamentals before failure forces the issue.

If your school has been contacted about Connect the Classroom funding, this is not just an upgrade. It is a rare chance to strengthen the digital foundations that support teaching, operations and safeguarding.

Because sometimes the least visible systems are the ones that determine whether everything else runs smoothly.

Find out more

Further details about the Connect the Classroom programme, including eligibility and next steps, are available from the Department for Education:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/connect-the-classroom

If your school or trust has been contacted and you would value an independent perspective on proposals, design choices or long-term implications, Digital Confidence subscribers can request tailored guidance to help ensure projects deliver lasting value.