ELEVEN public schools in the cities of Swan and Kalamunda and the shires of Mundaring, York, Northam and Toodyay will receive an additional upgrade to their internet bandwidth capacity, increasing teaching and learning opportunities for staff and students.

Software upgrades will be carried out first, with bandwidth upgrades expected to be completed during 2024 and 2025.

Schools to benefit are Avonvale Primary, Caversham Primary, Middle Swan Primary, Mundaring Primary, Northam Primary School, Northam Senior High, Swan View Primary, Swan

View District High, Toodyay District High, West Northam Primary and York District High School.

This recent bandwidth boost will provide significant benefits to schools, but particularly remote and regional schools, with some set to receive up to a 200 per cent uplift in bandwidth.

The increase will allow staff and students to participate in online classes, access additional online learning resources and work with their peers more effectively.

This additional capacity builds on massive public school bandwidth upgrades already delivered across WA, enabling schools that previously had limited bandwidth to use technologies including high-definition multimedia content, as well as running simultaneous online learning and activities in a number of classrooms without lag.

Education Minister Dr Tony Buti said the government wanted to ensure students and staff in WA had access to the best learning environments.

“This agreement with Telstra provides another significant increase to overall bandwidth capacity for WA public schools, which is a fantastic outcome students and teachers.

“Bandwidth upgrades are important for schools to support the learning and teaching of students and staff and I am sure schools will be pleased with the increased capacity and all of the opportunities it presents.”

The state government announced upgrades to a further 200 schools, bringing the total to more than 700 schools since the project was announced last year.