Bristol School Broadband Outage: What Schools Can Do to Stay Online, Secure and Protected - September 2026

Recent disruption affecting school internet services in Bristol has highlighted something that every school should be asking:

What happens if our primary internet connection suddenly stops working?

For a modern school, broadband is no longer simply a way of accessing the internet. It supports safeguarding and filtering, cloud applications, online learning, MIS platforms, staff communication, safeguarding systems, payments, printing, lesson resources and almost every aspect of day-to-day school life.

When the connection goes down for several days, the impact can be significant.

For Bristol schools currently using Trading With Schools (TWS) for educational internet services, recent service disruption is a useful reminder to review not only the broadband connection itself, but also the school's backup connectivity, filtering, IT support and overall ICT strategy.

From our Bristol head office Soltech IT provide filtered broadband and IT support specifically for schools, including schools across Bristol.

What happens when school broadband goes down?

A broadband outage can quickly become much more than an inconvenience.

Teachers may be unable to access online lesson resources. Cloud-based systems can become unavailable, staff may struggle to communicate and pupils can lose access to essential online learning platforms.

There can also be a safeguarding consideration.

Schools have responsibilities around online safety, filtering and monitoring, and the Department for Education's digital and technology standards were updated in September 2026 to strengthen the guidance around cyber security and filtering and monitoring.

This means schools should consider not just “Do we have internet?”, but:

• Is our internet connection reliable?
• What happens if it fails?
• How quickly can we get back online?
• Is our backup connection suitably protected and filtered?
• Can pupils and staff continue working safely?
• Who is responsible for fixing the problem?
• How much is our current solution actually costing the school?

A backup connection can keep a school operational

One of the biggest lessons from any prolonged internet outage is the importance of having a business-grade backup connection.

At Soltech IT, our filtered broadband solutions also provide schools with alternative connectivity options, including 5G backup routers and high-speed 4Gb routers, allowing us to rapidly provide an alternative connection when a primary service is unavailable.

This can be particularly valuable for schools because the objective isn't necessarily to replace the main broadband connection permanently.

It is about having a resilience plan.

If the primary connection fails, the school can switch to its backup connection and continue operating while the main service is restored.

For some schools, this can make the difference between being effectively offline and remaining operational.

Filtered broadband for Bristol schools

A backup internet connection also needs to be considered carefully from a safeguarding perspective.

Simply plugging a school into an unfiltered consumer broadband or mobile connection isn't necessarily an appropriate long-term solution.

Schools need to consider their filtering and monitoring requirements alongside their connectivity.

Soltech IT provides managed filtered broadband for schools, combining connectivity with educational filtering and monitoring.

Our school broadband service is designed around the needs of education, rather than simply providing an internet connection.

We already provide filtered broadband to schools and have helped schools achieve both improved connectivity and cost savings compared with previous broadband arrangements.

Could changing broadband actually save your school money?

This is one of the areas that is often overlooked.

Schools don't necessarily need to spend more money to improve their connectivity.

In many cases, there is an opportunity to review what the school is currently paying for and consolidate services.

For example, a school may currently have:

• An internet connection
• A separate filtering service
• Separate monitoring
• Additional security services
• A backup connection
• Separate technical support
• Different contracts for different services

A review can identify where services can be consolidated, where unnecessary costs exist and whether the school is paying for services it no longer needs.

At Soltech IT, our approach is not simply to recommend more technology.

We look at where the school can save money as well as where it needs to invest.

More than broadband: reducing the overall cost of school IT

For Bristol schools considering a change of broadband provider, it can also be a good opportunity to look at the wider ICT picture.

Soltech IT provides school IT support across Bristol, with flexible support packages designed around each school's requirements.

Schools can purchase the amount of support they actually need, with support time able to be used for projects and other ICT requirements rather than simply paying for an engineer to sit onsite for a fixed period.

Our aim is simple:

Give schools the IT support they need while helping them maintain or reduce their ICT budgets.

Our Bursar Service can help schools find further savings

One of the areas that makes our school IT service different is our Bursar and Business Manager Service.

We don't believe IT should be looked at in isolation from the school's finances.

Our Bursar Service helps schools review their ICT expenditure, identify potential savings and investigate alternative funding and grant opportunities.

This can include looking at:

• Broadband and connectivity costs
• IT support contracts
• Hardware purchasing
• Microsoft licensing
• Apple and iPad provision
• Servers and/or Cloud
• WiFi
• Interactive displays
• Cyber security
• Software subscriptions
• Grant funding opportunities
• Longer-term ICT replacement planning

Our Bristol school IT support service includes access to this additional support because we believe that good IT management should ultimately help schools get more from their existing budgets.

Curriculum technology and STEM loan packs for school

There is another way schools can reduce the cost of technology in the classroom.

Soltech IT provides schools with access to computing curriculum and STEM loan resources, allowing teachers to borrow equipment and resources for lessons rather than having to purchase every piece of technology themselves.

The resources can be used across different subjects and curriculum areas, helping teachers introduce practical technology and computing activities without creating another large capital expenditure for the school.

Don't wait for the next outage

Recent disruption to school internet services in Bristol is a useful reminder that connectivity resilience should be part of every school's ICT strategy.

The question isn't whether an internet connection can fail.

It is: What happens to your school when it does?

A robust school ICT strategy should consider:

• Primary connectivity
  Is the school's broadband fast enough and reliable enough for today's cloud-based education environment?

• Educational filtering and monitoring
  Is internet access appropriately filtered and monitored for pupils and staff?

• Backup connectivity
  Can the school get online if its primary connection fails?

• Cyber security
  Is the wider network protected against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats?

• IT support
  Does the school have access to engineers who can respond when something goes wrong?

• Financial efficiency
  Are you getting value from your ICT budget, or are there services and contracts that could be reduced or consolidated?

• Long-term planning

       Does the school have a clear ICT replacement and investment plan?

Bristol schools: we can help

Soltech IT provides school IT support, filtered broadband, cyber security, WiFi, hardware, servers, Microsoft 365, interactive displays and wider ICT services to schools across Bristol and the South West.

We can review your existing arrangements and identify where there may be opportunities to:

• Improve broadband speed and reliability
• Introduce filtered broadband
• Add resilient 5G backup connectivity
• Improve cyber security
• Reduce ongoing ICT costs
• Review your IT support requirements
• Identify potential grant funding
• Plan future hardware replacements
• Support your curriculum technology requirements



You don't necessarily need to replace everything.

Sometimes a review of what you already have is enough to identify significant savings.

If your Bristol school is currently reviewing its broadband, IT support or wider ICT strategy, we'd be happy to have an informal conversation and see whether we can help.

Talk to Soltech IT about school broadband and IT support in Bristol

Soltech IT supports schools across Bristol and the surrounding South West region with school IT support, filtered broadband, cyber security, WiFi and ICT services.

TWS Trading With School - Bristol City Council