Thomas Lord Audley School

The Thomas Lord Audley School is a popular secondary comprehensive school located in Colchester. The school serves a wide and diverse catchment area that covers the south of the city and surrounding villages across rural north east Essex, as far south as Mersea Island. The school has 920 registered pupils aged 11 to 16.

Thomas Lord Audley is an Academy and a part of the Sigma Trust, a partnership of eight secondary schools and four primary schools all situated in north east Essex.

The Challenge

The school has been using two way radios for many years to allow the senior leadership team and other key members of staff to communicate from anywhere on the premises. Two-way radios have therefore long been integral to day-to-day coordination, safety, security and maintenance.

For many years the school used unlicensed PMR 446 models. Cheap and easy to use, these off-the-shelf walkie-talkies operate on free-to-air public radio frequencies, meaning there’s no need to buy an additional license. But while they provide simple and straightforward voice communication, one major downside is that conversations can be picked up by any other PMR radio being used within range.

After visiting another school in the Sigma Trust and seeing professional licensed radios in use, Thomas Lord Audley headteacher Simon Essex decided it was time to upgrade in line with best practice advice about radio use in schools to ensure staff could communicate privately at all times.

Our solution

The school’s IT Service Manager Peter Marven was asked to look into acquiring new radios. He’d had previous dealings with Brentwood Communications through his work with Essex Scouts. He also knew that we had supplied two way radios to three other schools in the Sigma Trust.

Clacton County High School has a fleet of Motorola DP1400 handsets while the Stanway School uses Motorola EVX S24s. Both are high-quality modern digital models that combine a robust, durable build with reliable performance in all environments. Then in 2023, we supplied a set of Lugra LT5100 digital radios to Harwich and Dovercourt High School as an upgrade to unlicensed Motorola radios.

Peter initially expressed interest in the licensed Motorola models. During discussions, we explained that the LT5100 is a very similar radio to the DP1400. It’s a solid, reliable model that is straightforward to use but still offers advanced digital enhancements such as call encryption, noise cancellation for better audio clarity, and extended signal range. The main difference between the Lugra and Motorola models is that the LT5100 is cheaper.

We recommended the LT5100 as the best-value option to meet all the school’s requirements. The school purchased 30 handsets.

Results

Peter said: “The radios have performed as hoped for. They have been issued to members of the senior team, first aiders, the site team, heads of year, safeguarding leads, and on call staff. Every so often we find an additional need and purchase a couple of additional radios.

“I have always found Brentwood Communications to be helpful and professional from initial contact through to purchase and ongoing support. We are not constantly contacted for further purchases; we are able to reach out for additional quotes at our own pace.

“The sales personnel listen to our requirements and provide suggestions for the best solution for our budget, rather than upselling items. We have received helpful communications offering their servicing of kit periodically to ensure ours is working to its best.

“I would feel confident recommending Brentwood Communications to other schools.”