A new digital transformation initiative launched by Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA) has helped improve connectivity at a local Perth school.
Staff at St Maria Goretti’s Catholic School, Redcliffe, were experiencing problems with mobile phone coverage, despite the school’s close proximity to the Perth city centre, but with the support of team members from the LEADing Lights Project, were able to gain both mobile and wireless internet access.
St Maria Goretti’s Principal Martin Barrett said the problem with connectivity had been a longstanding one.
“I’ve been at the school for four years, and we’ve never had mobile coverage. You have teachers and staff walking around in the parking lot whenever they need to get a call,” he said.
Mr Barrett added that since the school was in the process of expanding from a single-stream to a double-stream class structure, access to basic connectivity was essential for teachers’ duty of care.
However, the school found a solution through contact with workers from LEADING Lights – an initiative of CEWA which aims to increase the access of students’ across WA to various forms of technology to help their learning.
Mr Barrett had heard of LEADING Lights through its recent work with Christ the King School on the Dampier Peninsula – where the team had had helped install a 4G Smart Antennae, which enabled access reliable mobile network coverage.
Having contacted LEADING Lights’ Digital Transformation team, Mr Barrett was able to gain support from Project Manager Chuck Van Oosbree, who surveyed the site with a Telstra team and made a diagnosis: St Maria Goretti’s metal frame had formed what’s known as a ‘Faraday Cage’ – a space blocking electromagnetic fields – including mobile and wireless network access.
The solution – according to Telstra employees – was to relocate the original booster, which would significantly increase the coverage available to the area.
They were also able to enable voice over Wi-Fi, or Wi-Fi calling, allowing staff at the school to use their local connection to make calls from inside the building.
Mr Barrett said the simple solution had benefitted the school and staff greatly.
“The big thing here is that even though we’ve been working without mobiles for years, we’ve been able to just take a few simple steps and get us there,” he said.
“It’s great to know the LEADing Lights team is actively responding to the needs of schools.”
The LEADING Lights is being implemented in different stages through CEWA. Schools experiencing connectivity problems can contact Project Manager Chuck Van Oosbree at Chuck.VanOosbree@cewa.edu.au.