£5 million funding boost for Wales gives schools superfast broadband

Over 300 schools across Wales are set to get superfast broadband thanks to Welsh government funding, education secretary Kirsty Williams has announced.

Currently, all schools in Wales have minimum broadband connections of 10Mbps for primary schools and 100Mbps for secondary schools, but some are not able to upgrade the speed of their services to meet ever increasing demand as a result of technical limitations.

In November 2016, £5 million of investment was made available that will cover the installation of new broadband services.

Orders for the new services have started to be placed with the first delivery expected early in the academic year 2017/18.

Prioritising schools’ access to superfast broadband was a key part of the progressive agreement between the First Minister and Kirsty Williams.

Changes to the curriculum mean digital skills will now be developed and taught through all parts of a pupil’s schooling and not just isolated to specific ICT or computer science classes.

The Digital Competence Framework means more than just using computers and aims to equip pupils with the digital skills they need and can apply in the real world in the years to come

Kirsty Williams said: “I am committed to making sure all our schools have the infrastructure needed to prepare pupils for the modern world.

“That is why I announced £5 million of extra investment to make sure all our schools have superfast broadband speeds as a minimum and I am delighted 341 schools will benefit from this.”