School Phone System: How Fullhurst Community College Connected Its Phones to SIMS

About Fullhurst Community College

Fullhurst Community College is an oversubscribed secondary school for around 1,400 pupils aged 11 to 16, based in Braunstone, West Leicester. Its ageing telephone system, two-campus environment and growing administrative demands created a need for a modern communications platform that was easier to manage and integrated with the systems staff use every day.

The VoIP Shop delivered a Yeastar cloud phone system, 109 modern Yealink handsets and direct SIMS integration, enabling Fullhurst to manage calls more efficiently, strengthen communication with parents and save 2 to 3 minutes on every parent call.

The challenge

An ageing phone system holding the school back

Fullhurst’s existing telephone system was no longer meeting the needs of a modern school. The handsets were outdated, the system was increasingly difficult to manage, and the telephone infrastructure was disconnected from the pupil information system staff used every day. The school faced a number of challenges, including:

For a school of more than 1,400 pupils, calls from parents are a significant part of daily administration. Absence enquiries, appointments, trips and general queries require staff to identify callers quickly and access the correct pupil information, yet staff had to search SIMS manually, and misspelled or unfamiliar names made this even more time-consuming.

Fullhurst also needed a system that could support its wider two-campus environment while giving its internal IT team greater control over users, extensions and settings.

Why Fullhurst Community College chose The VoIP Shop

Fullhurst discovered The VoIP Shop through a Google search in November 2025. The initial engagement focused on demonstrating the Yeastar phone system and understanding the school’s requirements.

The approach provided:

The second demonstration, delivered with integration partner EdTechPro, showed the school exactly how the SIMS integration would operate in practice, giving visibility of both the phone system and the integration before making a decision.

The school also benefited from having a single provider responsible for implementation and ongoing support. From the initial conversation to approval, the project progressed in just eight weeks.

The solution

The VoIP Shop replaced Fullhurst’s legacy telephone system with a modern Yeastar cloud phone system, providing a more flexible and manageable communications platform.

Yeastar Cloud Phone System

A modern cloud-based telephone platform that provides advanced call handling for 180 users and supports up to twelve simultaneous calls.

Two expansion modules give reception staff greater visibility of extensions to manage multiple calls efficiently, while the school’s IT team can manage users, extensions and settings through the administration portal, reducing reliance on external support for routine changes.

SIMS Integration

Delivered in partnership with EdTechPro, the integration connects the telephone system with the school’s existing SIMS environment. When a parent calls, the system identifies the caller from SIMS and, where a matching record is found, their name appears on the handset before the call is answered.

Staff no longer need to search manually for names or deal with spelling variations. The platform also includes responsive AI that can call parents to collect information such as absence reasons and trip consent, reducing routine work for office staff.

The results

Ongoing Support

The VoIP Shop provides continued support and maintenance, giving the school a single point of contact for its communications system.

Fullhurst now has a modern cloud phone system that is easier for its internal team to manage and better connected to the school’s existing technology. The project delivered:

Explore the Solutions Behind This Project

Fullhurst Community College moved to a Yeastar cloud phone system integrated with SIMS. Here is what makes it work for schools.