Hamilton School Leads the Field in Online Learning

Over the past few months, Hamilton's Velocity Networks has been helping Southwell School take a major step towards achieving its vision of incorporating online learning into daily classroom activities.

The school recently installed an ultra-high speed broadband connection capable of accessing the internet at 1,000Mbps. Supplied by Velocity Networks in partnership with FX Networks, the new connection runs off fibre optic cable and is capable of significantly higher speeds than their previous wireless system.

Royce Helm, Headmaster of Southwell School, says, "The response time on the Velocity network is astonishing, particularly connecting to New Zealand sites. We are now able to have more than 100 students accessing the internet at any one time without any noticeable delays", he adds.

The school has around 400 PCs on campus and recently installed a suite of 140 laptops, one for each Year 7 student. These provide direct wireless connectivity into the internet from within the classroom, providing real-time access to lecture-related content. The school is fully committed to online learning and regards instant access to information as being of increasing importance in the educational sector.

The implementation of the Velocity fibre solution began late in 2008 in order to have it commissioned and ready for the 2009 school year. "The implementation and transition to the Velocity network was really easy and quite painless", says Dave Winter, Head of IT at Southwell. "We expected it to be more challenging but it happened smoothly and on time", he adds.

Velocity's plans include a gigabit-capable Ethernet loop for Hamilton schools that will be superior in both speed and quality to the copper or wireless solutions offered by other providers. "With a planned zero ongoing cost for schools, it will give them access to the required network speeds to make a real difference in education", says John O'Donoghue, managing director of Velocity.

Work on the schools' loop has already started, with the fibre network being extended into Whitiora Primary School and Hamilton East Primary School. This will enable them to collaborate across the network in real time with Southwell School and other schools as they connect. Connections to other schools will be dependent upon further funding being raised from local private sources and Government.

Allan Bull, Principal of Hamilton East Primary, says, "This is an outstanding opportunity for schools to work together as a lobby group to secure further Government funding. Once we have a network connecting all schools we can then collaborate more effectively at a classroom level", he adds.

Royce Helm concludes, "Our schools need to get organised as a group if we expect to progress this exciting and necessary initiative. I don't believe we will achieve our online learning goals if we work individually and independently".