Wireless Networks for Schools
Wi-Fi that keeps up with a full timetable. We design, survey and install wireless networks for schools and trusts across the UK — built on Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7, and engineered to meet the DfE's wireless network standards from day one.
A wireless network is only as good as the lesson it carries. When thirty devices in one classroom hit the network at once — and the classroom next door does the same — coverage alone isn't enough. You need capacity, and that takes proper design: a real site survey, the right access points in the right places, and an installation team that works around the school day, not through it.
We've been doing exactly that for schools since 2000. As a full-service education IT provider, wireless is part of how we support schools — not a one-off sale. Your network is installed by our own engineers, documented properly, and looked after by the same team that answers your helpdesk calls.
Trusted by schools across the UK
The signs your school has outgrown its Wi-Fi
Lessons stall when a class logs on.
Coverage looks fine on a quiet corridor, then a whole cohort opens the same resource and everything crawls. That's a capacity problem, not a coverage problem — and it's the most common fault we find in school wireless networks.
Dead zones in the places that matter.
The hall during assessments. The mobile classrooms. The sports hall on parents' evening. Older networks were designed for laptops on trolleys, not a device in every hand.
Ageing access points, unsupported kit.
Wi-Fi 5 hardware is now two generations behind, and much of it is approaching end of support. The DfE's standards are clear that schools should be on Wi-Fi 6 or better — if your last install pre-dates 2020, it almost certainly isn't.
No one can see what's happening.
Without central, cloud-based management, faults get found by teachers mid-lesson instead of by monitoring. A modern school wireless network should tell your support team about a problem before the classroom does.
If any of those sound familiar, a survey will tell you exactly where you stand — and it costs you nothing. Call 0115 9170 197 or book a survey.
Built to the DfE wireless network standards
The Department for Education's digital and technology standards set out what every school's wireless network should look like. They're not statutory — but they're the benchmark inspectors, auditors and trust boards increasingly expect, and they're the specification behind funded programmes like Connect the Classroom. Every wireless network we design meets them as a baseline:
Wi-Fi 6 or better throughout.
The standards say new or upgraded wireless should use Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) as a minimum. We design on Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7, so your network clears the bar today and still clears it at your next refresh.
A centrally managed, cloud-based solution.
Every access point managed from one console, with configuration, firmware and security policies applied estate-wide — essential for trusts running multiple sites.
Full coverage of teaching and learning spaces.
Verified by survey, not assumed from a floor plan — including halls, studios, mobile classrooms and outdoor learning areas where you need them.
Security built in, not bolted on.
Separate, authenticated networks for staff, students, guests and BYOD; WPA3 encryption; and certificate-based authentication so a shared password scribbled on a whiteboard is never your security model.
Licensing and support in place for the life of the network.
No lapsed licences quietly switching off the security features the standard requires.
Because we deliver the whole stack — broadband, cabling, wireless and ongoing support — the standards get met as a system, not as a shopping list.
Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7: what they actually mean for a school
You don't need to care about radio spectrum. You need every lesson to load. Here's the practical difference:
| Wi-Fi 5 (pre-2020 installs) | Wi-Fi 6/6E | Wi-Fi 7 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A full class online at once | Devices queue; things stall | Built for dense classrooms — many devices served simultaneously | Even higher density, with lower delay |
| The 6 GHz band | Not available | 6E opens a clean new band — no interference from legacy kit | Uses 6 GHz fully, and can combine bands at once |
| Video, streaming, cloud platforms | Struggles at scale | Smooth for whole-class use | Headroom for whatever the next decade brings |
| DfE wireless standard | Below the baseline | Meets it | Exceeds it |
(Illustrative comparison for planning purposes — your survey report sets out real figures for your site.)
Our honest advice: Wi-Fi 6E is the sweet spot for most schools right now — mature, competitively priced, and comfortably beyond the DfE baseline. Wi-Fi 7 makes sense for new builds, large secondaries and trusts standardising for the long term. We'll recommend what your site actually needs, and we'll put the reasoning in writing.
It starts with a proper site survey
No two school sites are alike — Victorian brick, 1960s system builds, PFI blocks and modular classrooms all behave differently. That's why we never quote a wireless install from a floor plan alone.
Surveys are free for schools, with no obligation. Book yours or call 0115 9170 197.
Listen first.
We talk to your leadership and IT contacts about how the school actually uses its network — device numbers, 1:1 schemes, exams on-screen, growth plans.
Predictive design.
We model your buildings and produce an initial design: access point counts, placement and switching requirements.
On-site survey.
An engineer walks the site with survey equipment, measuring real signal behaviour through your actual walls, ceilings and interference sources — including the spaces plans forget, like halls and outbuildings.
Design report.
You receive a written design and fixed quotation: AP placements on plan, cabling requirements, licensing, and how the design meets each DfE wireless standard. It's yours to keep, whoever you choose to install it.
Validation survey after install.
Once we've installed, we survey again to prove the coverage and capacity we designed is the coverage and capacity you got.
Installation that works around the school day
Wireless installs touch every corridor and classroom, so how the project is run matters as much as the kit. Our installation crews are our own engineers — the same 75-strong team behind our helpdesk — not subcontractors you'll never see again.
Scheduling and delivery run through AIT Atlas, the operations platform we built to run our own business — people, projects, schools and technology in one place. Navigate. Manage. Deliver. For your install, that means:
- Crews scheduled around your calendar. Atlas's rota planning is how we commit real engineers to real dates — half-term blitzes, summer works, or phased evening installs — and why those dates hold.
- Your project, tracked as milestones. Survey signed off, cabling complete, APs mounted, validation survey passed: each stage is a milestone in Atlas, so your project runs to a clear, written plan, not a vague "we'll be in touch".
- Every visit accounted for. Site visits, kit deliveries and snag lists are logged against your school's record, so nothing depends on one engineer's memory.
Atlas is how we run every project we deliver — included with our service, not sold on top.
Wireless installs pair naturally with network and data cabling — new access points often need new drops — and with our wider school installations and projects work, so summer works can be planned as one visit, not four.
Illustrative demo data
Procurement and lifecycle, handled
Buying wireless kit through a school's procurement process shouldn't mean chasing three spreadsheets and a mystery delivery date.
- AIT Ordering tracks your project from quote to purchase order to delivery, so your business manager can see exactly where every access point is — quoted, ordered, in transit, or on site — without emailing anyone to ask. Supplier management and the catalogue sit behind it, so pricing is consistent and auditable.
- AIT Horizon keeps the long view. Its IT Finance module holds your hardware refresh plan and 5-year projections, so this install lands in your budget forecast rather than ambushing it — and when the network next needs refreshing, it's a planned line in Horizon years in advance, not an emergency bid. Horizon's RAG compliance tracker also shows leaders, at a glance, where the school stands against the DfE wireless standard — evidence for governors and trustees without anyone assembling a report.
Both platforms are included with our service, not sold on top — and both live behind one login at the Customer Portal.
(All figures shown in Horizon and Ordering screenshots on this page are illustrative.)
Supported after the install, not just during it
Plenty of installers fit a wireless network and disappear. We're a school IT support company first — the network we install becomes a network we look after.
Proactive monitoring.
Cloud-managed access points report their health to our team. When an AP misbehaves, we usually know before your staff room does.
One helpdesk for everything.
Wireless, broadband, devices, safeguarding and filtering — one number, one team, no "that's the other supplier's problem".
Firmware, security and licensing kept current.
The unglamorous work that keeps a network compliant with the DfE standards year after year — done routinely, without you asking.
Works for every kind of school.
From single-form primary schools to large secondaries, independent schools and multi-academy trusts standardising Wi-Fi across every site — UK-wide.
Frequently asked questions
The Department for Education's digital and technology standards say schools should use Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) or better for new wireless installations or upgrades, manage the network through a centrally managed cloud solution, ensure full signal coverage wherever connectivity is needed, and keep the network's security features licensed and supported. They're the specification behind DfE-funded upgrade programmes and the benchmark trusts and auditors now work to. Every network we design meets them as a minimum — see our DfE digital standards guide for the full picture.
For most schools upgrading now, Wi-Fi 6E is the right call: it comfortably exceeds the DfE baseline, opens up the interference-free 6 GHz band, and is competitively priced. Wi-Fi 7 is worth the premium for new builds, very large or high-density sites, and trusts that want maximum lifespan from a single estate-wide standard. Your site survey report will give you a written recommendation with the reasoning — not just a quote.
Far less than you'd think, if it's planned properly. Most of our school installs are phased into half-terms, holidays and after-school windows, and our crews are scheduled through AIT Atlas so the dates we commit to are dates our engineers are actually booked against. Cabling and mounting can usually happen with zero lesson disruption, with the switchover to the new network done out of hours.
Often, yes — Wi-Fi 6E and 7 access points are typically ceiling-mounted in different positions from older kit and need power-over-Ethernet from suitable switches. Your survey report will state exactly which existing drops can be reused and which runs are new, priced as part of one fixed quotation. Because we deliver data cabling in-house, it's one project and one team, not two contractors blaming each other.
Yes — free for schools, with no obligation. You keep the written design report either way. We're confident enough in our design work and our pricing that we're happy to be compared. Call 0115 9170 197 to book.
Ready for Wi-Fi your timetable can rely on?
Book a free, no-obligation wireless site survey and get a written design your school keeps — whoever installs it. We support 249 schools and 20 trusts across the UK, and we've been building school networks since 2000.
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