Rastrick High School
How Rastrick High School Transformed Site Safety with Hytera Radios and SMC Gateway Integration
Introduction
Rastrick High School is a large mixed secondary school in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, with over 1,700 pupils aged 11 to 16. As part of the Polaris Multi-Academy Trust, the school operates across a sizeable campus and prioritises both academic excellence and student safety. When communication blind spots across the site began affecting daily operations and emergency responsiveness, the team at Rastrick turned to Digitall Comms for a reliable, future-proof radio system.
The Challenge
The school’s existing back-to-back radios were no longer providing full site coverage. Staff reported unreliable communication due to multiple blind spots, particularly in more remote or shielded areas of the campus. This impacted not only daily coordination but also the school’s ability to respond swiftly in potential emergency situations.
The school was also dealing with repeated false fire alarm activations, which often resulted in unnecessary full-site evacuations and disruption to learning.
The Solution
Digitall Comms recommended a two-phase upgrade to resolve the coverage issues and introduce future-ready capabilities.
First, a repeater was installed to eliminate blackspots and ensure full site coverage. This made an immediate difference in the quality and reach of communication across the school.
To support more intelligent site safety, Digitall Comms also demonstrated the benefits of the SMC Gateway, a system that integrates directly with infrastructure like fire panels. The team at Rastrick quickly saw the value of this future-proof solution and opted to move forward with it.
To take advantage of the Gateway’s ability to send instant text alerts during a fire alarm activation, six Hytera HP565 screened radios were deployed to the maintenance team. These radios receive direct messages detailing exactly where the fire alarm has been triggered, allowing staff to be deployed immediately to the correct location, saving valuable time by removing the need to first return to the fire panel for information.
Additionally, the team were so impressed by the reliability, clarity, and added functionality of the new radios that they decided to upgrade the rest of the radio fleet. As a result, 72 Hytera HP505 non-screened radios were issued to the wider team for everyday use, ensuring consistent, high-quality communication across all departments.
The Results
The new system has significantly boosted operational efficiency and improved on-site safety. With the repeater in place, the entire school now benefits from seamless, reliable coverage. The maintenance team is better equipped to respond quickly to fire alerts, thanks to real-time text messages on their screened devices. Meanwhile, the broader team enjoys clearer, more dependable communication throughout the day.
From smoother daily coordination to faster emergency response times, the upgrade has proven to be a game-changer.
Why Digitall Comms?
The school praised the proactive support and technical expertise offered by the Digitall Comms team. From initial consultation through to installation and aftercare, the process was smooth and fully supported.
“We were experiencing coverage issues across our site, with several blind spots where communication was unreliable using our existing back-to-back radios. After discussing our needs, the team recommended installing a repeater, which made an immediate difference in ensuring full site coverage.
Following the integration of the SMC Gateway with our fire panel, we upgraded to Hytera HP565 screened radios so that our Site Team could receive instant text alerts in the event of an alarm.
The new radios have proven to be a vast improvement over our previous system – offering better reliability, coverage, and functionality.
We’ve since rolled out non-screened Hytera radios to the wider team and are very pleased with the overall upgrade. The process was smooth, and the support we received throughout was excellent.”