Smart Phone Systems for Schools

School telephone systems must support functionality beyond basic communication. From parents monitoring attendance to staff outreach to parents, suppliers, local authorities and emergency services, a school’s telephone system is vital for day to day communication.

Traditional telephone systems are costly to acquire and safely maintain, and are becoming obsolete in today’s schools. Modern school telephone systems use VoIP technology and allow for greater flexibility, more communication options and easier systems.

Why Schools Are Switching to VoIP Phone Systems

The right system can allow your school to keep the same telephone number, route calls to reception and other school departments, transfer calls between staff, answer calls on computers and mobile phones, manage calls according to peak demands of the school day and provide after hours messages.

A cloud-based communication system will simplify school communication for primary schools, secondary schools, academies, colleges, special schools and schools within a multi-academy trust.

What is a Smart Phone System for a School?

A smart school phone system utilises an internet connection rather than a traditional phone line, as most video calls and audio communication systems do.

This is commonly known as VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol.

Instead of a call travelling through a traditional copper telephone network, the audio is transmitted digitally over an internet connection.

That means your school can use a combination of:

• Desk phones
• Computers and laptops
• Tablets
• Smartphones
• Headsets
• Web browsers
• VoIP applications

All connected to the same school telephone system. Staff can have individual extensions, departments can have their own numbers or call groups and incoming calls can be automatically directed to the right person or team.

Analogue Phone Lines To Be Discontinued

The government has mandated that PSTN/ISDN analogue phone lines be discontinued across the country meaning that most schools will be forced to switch to VoIP phone systems, regardless of if they have plans to switch.

01 – The Old Lines are Switching Off

Online phone service companies are phasing out the old analog and ISDN networks. Schools that are still on the old networks will need to act before the copper lines are discontinued.

02 – One Number, Many Sites

The phone system for a Multi-Academy Trust can be set up to take calls for all the schools in the trust. Calls can be routed to other schools as internal calls.

03 – Nobody Misses an Absence Call

Call queues, voicemail-to-email and out-of-hours call routing ensure calls made by parents reach the school office call system, even if the office is closed or if the staff is busy on another call.

04 – Records for Safeguarding

With analogue line systems, there are no records or logs that can be used for safeguarding. With a VoIP phone system, call recording and call logs can be used to create records and logs for safeguarding.

Benefits of a Smart School Phone System

From streamlining communications between teachers, parents and students; smart phone systems can help schools communication line stay efficient alongside the ability keep your schools existing number (so no headaches for parents or legal documents).

Keep Your Current School Telephone Number

Disrupting parents and staff by changing your school’s telephone number is something to avoid. Your school’s telephone number may well be saved in a parent’s contact list. It’s likely to be published on the school website, in Google, on letters, newsletters and admissions documents and even on legal documents.

Many VoIP providers enable you to keep your existing school telephone number. This means you don’t have to change the telephone number that parents know.

Transfer Calls With Ease

Call transferring is a great time saving feature for busy school offices. For example, if a parent calls the main number and asks about a school trip, there’s no need to ask the parent to call back. The main office can simply transfer the call to the trip organiser.

Staff may be able to:

• Blind transfer calls
• Speak to the destination before transferring
• Transfer calls to another extension
• Transfer calls to a department
• Transfer calls to a mobile
• Transfer calls to voicemail
• Transfer calls to a call queue

This can result in school offices being more organised and professional.

Create Separate Departments and Extensions

A school may have many different people and departments receiving calls. A modern phone system can create extensions for different areas.

For example:

The exact structure can be designed around the school. This means staff can contact one another internally using short extension numbers rather than external telephone numbers.

Manage Calls Outside School hours

Schools don’t operate like ordinary businesses and the office may be closed in the evenings, at weekends and during school holidays. A smart phone system can be configured around the school’s opening hours and there are loads of added features with modern phone systems, including AI receptionists that can answer FAQ, take messages, schedule appointments or divert calls with ease.

UK VoIP Providers (Who to Shortlist)

Each of these VoIP providers are available for use in the UK by schools and small organisations. None of them will require you to remove existing handsets on the first day. The majority will operate alongside what you already have until you complete your migration.

Onecom

Onecom UK based telecoms provider with an education division geared towards schools and trusts. This division offers phone systems, mobile and connectivity services. This provider offers account management specific to the education industry.

Best for: MATs wanting an education specialist.

Gamma

Gamma is a leading wholesale and business VoIP provider in the UK and is used to supply schools indirectly through IT resellers and MATs’ existing telecoms partners. Gamma’s network is reliable and they have broad reseller support.

Best for: Large trusts with IT reseller.

RingCentral (UK)

An international cloud communications company with a UK segment that offers a unified communications and collaboration service that brings together phone, video and messaging. This is ideal for employees who have to move back and forth from phone to video calls for parents evening appointments.

Best for: Video + phone in one app

Voipfone

Voipfone is a VoIP provider known to have straightforward, self-service, pricing and easy portal access for small businesses at the expense of little sales overhead.

Best for: Small, budget-conscious sites

bOnline

bOnline specialises in providing cloud based phone systems and internet connectivity in the UK. They are well suited for schools and academies. Unlike many competitors, they provide one supplier for all cloud phone systems, internet connectivity and mobile services. This is particularly useful to school office staff who do not want to deal with three different service providers on the phone when something goes wrong.

Best for: Simple, single-supplier setup.

BT Business (Cloud Voice)

Preferred by schools using BT for broadband and leased lines, likely for the reason of continuing to work with an established national provider.

Best for: Schools already on BT connectivity

8×8

Another option for organizations considering global cloud-based communications with presence in the UK. A reliable choice for organisations that make purchasing decisions based on depth of features and analytics.

Best for: Feature-heavy comparisons

Netcall/ Cirrus-type Contact Centre Platforms

These call center focused platforms are designed to be used in a busy, high call volume desk situation, such as a large secondary school or trust call center.

Best for: High call volume front desk.