Hekia Parata, Amy Adams

21 March, 2012

More schools to benefit from UFB

The roll out of ultra-fast broadband to more schools in Hamilton, Tauranga, New Plymouth and Whanganui will see thousands more students able to be connected to the network by

July, Education Minister Hekia Parata and Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams say.

Ultrafast Fibre, one of the Government�s four UFB partners, today announced the next 23 schools in these regions that will be able to connect to the network by July this year.

These schools are in addition to another nine that were deployed by Ultrafast Fibre in January.

This means more than 16,000 students at 32 schools in the four regions will be able to be connected to the network by July.

Ms Parata says UFB is an exciting tool for the future of education.

�Schools will be able to share scarce resources like physics and IT teachers, and students will be able to take part in virtual classrooms and courses that might not be available at their own schools.

�Faster internet will help connect our schools with the world and prepare students for living and working in the 21st century.�

Ms Adams says the roll-out of UFB-enabling fibre to schools is making great progress.

�UFB is a game-changer for the whole country, and will see New Zealand become one of the most connected countries in the world with speeds of up to 100 megabits per second.

�It will revolutionise the way Kiwi firms do business, the way our kids learn and the way our health services deliver to us as patients.

�Building a more competitive and productive economy is one of the Government�s four key priorities for its second term and the rollout of UFB is an important part of this.�

The 23 schools announced today are:

Tauranga:
Tauranga Intermediate
Kaka Street Special School
St Mary's Catholic School
Mt Maunganui School

Hamilton:
Cambridge International College
Rhode Street School
St Andrew's Middle School
Vardon School
Forest Lake School
Frankton School
St Joseph's Catholic School
Woodstock School
Waikato Diocesan School For Girls
St John�s College
Aberdeen School

Wanganui:
Carlton School
Wanganui High School
St John's Hill School
St George's Preparatory School
Gonville School
TKKM o Te Atihaunui-A-Paparangi

New Plymouth:
Central School
New Plymouth Girls' High School