Switch to a next-generation phone system for complete flexibility
monthly cost savings
redundant lines discovered
handsets provisioned
A thriving co-educational day and boarding school for over 1,100 pupils aged 3 to 18 years, Hurstpierpoint College (Hurst) first opened its doors in 1849. Having experienced a rapid expansion in student numbers over the past decade, the school’s ageing telephony system was at breaking point. With the help of Focus Group, Hurst transformed operational communications across its 140-acre campus - achieving impressive line rental savings in the process.
Hurst needed a reliable, flexible phone system to support pupils, parents, teachers and administrative staff across its busy school campus. However, its ageing system was difficult to manage, making simple tasks such as adding staff, changing extensions, transferring calls and setting up call groups unnecessarily complicated.
The system also lacked key features, including personal voicemail for teachers to return calls outside the classroom. During busy periods, such as exam results and admissions, handling high call volumes was a challenge.
With maintenance costs rising and frequent faults disrupting service, Hurst needed a more reliable, easy-to-manage and future-proof telephony solution that could adapt to the changing needs of the school.
The new telephony solution has transformed communications across the school, giving Dan and his team a system that is simple to manage and quick to adapt. Tasks such as setting up hunt groups and adding extensions can now be completed in moments, while new handsets can be connected wherever there is a PC. Every staff member has their own extension, with voicemail and email notifications ensuring teachers can easily return missed calls when they are out of the classroom.
The system also places minimal demands on the WAN, helping improve the performance of the school’s IT systems while delivering reliable, feature-rich telephony tailored to individual needs. By moving to a more streamlined VoIP solution, Hurst has reduced its line and internet rental costs by an estimated 40% per month. The new platform has also reduced the volume of everyday support requests, freeing the IT team to focus on other priorities and respond more quickly to changes.
In addition, Hurst now receives a single, itemised bill covering its voice and data lines, making costs easier to manage and understand. Detailed usage reporting provides clear visibility of calls made, their destinations and the extensions used. Together, these improvements have delivered a more flexible, cost-effective and manageable communications solution for the school.
Hurst chose Focus Group for its local presence and ability to provide hardware, telephone lines and internet connectivity through a single provider. This simplified supplier management and gave the school one point of contact for all its communications needs.
Focus Group carried out a comprehensive site survey, identifying 15 redundant telephone lines connected to outdated fax machines, payphones and staff accommodation that was no longer in use. Following the audit, we provided detailed recommendations, including upgrading to a 1Gb fibre internet connection to deliver the bandwidth needed to support smartphones, wireless devices and growing data demands across the campus. Removing unused lines would also reduce costs, while replacing ISDN30 with SIP technology would offer greater flexibility, allowing handsets to be located wherever needed.
During the school holidays, Focus Group installed the dedicated fibre connection and a new Ericsson-LG UCP-600 IP telephony system, configuring and deploying 155 handsets across the site. We also trained the school’s IT team and provided hands-on support to help staff become familiar with the new system, ensuring a smooth transition with minimal disruption to the school.
Dan Higgins . Director of Operational Technology