Co-op Academies Trust become Friendly WiFi certified

Established in 2010, Co-op Academies Trust have been changing the lives of young people through education. Their unique co-operative model has allowed them to build a network of educational academies that supports local communities, sponsored and supported by the Co-op Group.

They drive education through providing an engaging, inspiring, and innovative curriculum to support their students of all ages. With a focus on making a pupil’s journey enjoyable and safe, becoming Friendly WiFi certified was a natural move by the Trust.

Providing connectivity to pupils and staff is essential as part of learning, development and accessibility which is why WiFi is available at each academy.

Jim Fessey, Head of IT at Co-op Academies Trust said, “We recognised the importance of providing access to WiFi at our academies, in addition to ensuring that all our pupils and students were kept safe online. It was important for us to gain the Friendly WiFi certification to provide an annual independent process to always ensure we are providing a safe WiFi experience. It is also a great way for us to demonstrate to parents that their children are protected whilst enjoying their learning experience with us.”

The Friendly WiFi certification shows that Co-op Academies Trust are providing a public WiFi network across their academies that will filter out inappropriate content, including indecent images and advertisements. This supports their commitment to keeping their pupils, staff and visitors safe online.

Bev Smith, Director at Friendly WiFi added, “We are super proud to have certified Co-op Academies and enjoyed working with their team who were committed to achieving and ensuring the standard was in place. It is a testament to their approach to learning and the high value they place on the experience of their pupils whilst studying with them. It also supports the importance for the educational sector to ensure a safe WiFi service is provided.”

About Co-op Academies

We are an education charity that exists to run and improve schools, raising the aspirations of the communities we serve. We're giving children a better future and helping our communities thrive by giving pupils the best educational opportunities and the support they need. We judge ourselves by how well all of our pupils achieve their potential but the real test is how our most vulnerable pupils succeed in primary, secondary, post-16 and special education sectors.

We are a co-operative Trust, so we want to work in partnership with aII external organisations for the benefit of education. We encourage our schools, not just to work within the Trust, but externally with all that play a role in contributing towards pupil and community success

About Friendly WiFi

Friendly WiFi – providing a certification standard for Public WiFi networks, to identify public places in areas such as Transport, Retail, Hospitality, Leisure and Education, who are providing safe filtered WiFi. Initiated by the UK Government with support from the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) and managed by the RDI trade organisation, the certification means that children, parents and guardians can look for the Friendly WiFi symbol to be sure that the public WiFi network is tested and verified on an annual basis to make sure pornographic and child abuse websites are blocked.