Funding: Connect the Classroom and other programmes

On this page

At a glance

• Connect the Classroom: £325 million for the 2025 to 2030 financial years, for wifi access points and network switches.
• DfE contacts eligible schools directly — you can’t apply on your own initiative.
• Eligible schools choose and buy from their own supplier, and the work must meet DfE’s specifications.
• The eligibility page was last updated in February 2026: check gov.uk for the current position.

Connect the Classroom

Connect the Classroom is a government-funded programme to improve internet speeds inside schools by upgrading wifi access points and network switches.

• Money: £325 million in total for the 2025 to 2030 financial years. That follows £215 million invested between 2021 and 2025.
• Who can get it: schools currently receiving targeted intervention through DfE’s RISE programme, and only if they fall below the wifi connectivity standards. The page says “Additional selection criteria will be announced this summer.”
• How: DfE contacts eligible schools directly. Schools don’t apply on their own initiative.
• Suppliers: schools choose and buy from their own supplier, and the work must meet DfE’s specifications: the latest Wi-Fi Alliance standard, full coverage, central management and security against unauthorised access.

If your school does get funding, the wifi and switching standards describe what the work should achieve.

Project Gigabit hubs (GigaHubs)

Building Digital UK’s GigaHubs programme connected around 1,200 rural public sector buildings — schools, GP surgeries and libraries among them — during 2021 to 2026, through six projects. A separate DfE Schools Project used the same product and procurement. BDUK’s June 2026 review says the hub product’s period of use is ending and that it “did not scale to the levels first envisaged”.

Janet services through your consortium

Jisc gets funding from DfE to support Janet services for schools in England. Regional broadband consortia and local authorities can use it to connect schools to Janet, with resilient internet transit, security monitoring, DDoS mitigation and more. See how to buy school broadband.

Questions people ask

Who pays for wifi upgrades?

Connect the Classroom has £325 million for the 2025 to 2030 financial years. DfE contacts eligible schools directly — currently those in the RISE programme that fall below the wifi standards — and they buy from their own supplier. Check gov.uk for current eligibility.

Sources

Checked 25 October 2026. We wrote this guide from these sources, in our own words:

1. DfE: Connect the Classroom (gov.uk)
2. BDUK: GigaHubs process review summary (June 2026) (gov.uk)
3. Jisc: Janet IP connection (jisc.ac.uk)

Broadband for Schools is an independent guide. We are not a broker, a reseller or a supplier, and we are not connected to the Department for Education, any local authority or any provider. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.