Sunrise Christian School is a Christ-centred learning community focusing on nurturing students spiritually, academically, socially, and emotionally. The Christian faith is woven through all aspects of school life; shaping curriculum, relationships, leadership, and service, whilst living the mission to educate hearts and minds with wisdom and understanding.
Across six schools and five Early Learning Centres, Sunrise offers a pathway from early learning to middle school, all grounded in strong values and a clear sense of purpose. Three of the school sites are connected via SABRENet, enabling high-performance digital learning and collaboration across locations.
Sunrise’s initial conversations with SABRENet began in 2017, driven by a long-term vision to improve performance, centralise services, and establish a future-proof network across key Sunrise sites. At the time, they were exploring how to better support their main server hub at Fullarton, where all network traffic across campuses is routed.
In 2020, as more local schools came online and the cost-benefit balance shifted, they reinitiated discussions with SABRENet. The opportunity to connect Fullarton, Paradise, and Marion, their three closely located sites, became a clear next step.
“Our decision was motivated by a combination of factors; improving connectivity speeds and reliability, enabling centralised backup and cloud services, reducing long-term costs, and building infrastructure that we could own outright. Given that schools rarely change location, the investment in a dedicated fibre network through SABRENet aligned well with our long-term operational goals,” says Bradyn March, Sunrise ICT Director.
One of the primary benefits Sunrise aimed to achieve through the SABRENet connections was faster, more reliable data transfers, particularly for their backup systems. All of their core servers and networking equipment are centrally hosted at their Fullarton campus, therefore they needed a network that could support high-throughput traffic between campuses, and provide support for moving backups offsite for redundancy.
“Since going live, the SABRENet-connected sites have exceeded our expectations. Backup speeds dramatically improved, allowing for more efficient and secure storage practices,” says Bradyn. “The reliability of the connection has also reduced pressure on our other campuses that still rely on NBN, improving the overall performance of our wider network. In addition to the core benefits we anticipated, SABRENet has also enabled us to future-proof our infrastructure and support a more scalable, centralised IT model across multiple campuses.”
The impact of SABRENet has been clearly felt by both staff and students across Sunrise’s connected sites. “Day-to-day performance has significantly improved, particularly when accessing on-premise systems hosted at our Fullarton campus. Tasks that previously lagged or timed out now happen seamlessly,” says Bradyn.
“With most of our platforms (collaboration tools, administration systems, teaching resources) shifting to the cloud, the improved speeds and reliability of SABRENet have made a noticeable difference. Staff can now access critical systems and cloud-based services quickly and without interruption.”
Given the number of Sunrise campuses, collaboration is central to how Sunrise operates. SABRENet has enabled more effective use of tools like Microsoft Teams and SharePoint, dramatically reducing the need for inter-campus travel, particularly for leadership and ICT coordination. Online meetings are now smooth and dependable, supporting a more connected and efficient working environment.
“We were fortunate to have minimal challenges during the rollout of SABRENet connections,” said Bradyn. “SABRENet’s project lead times were accurate, and their support throughout the process was excellent. We also engaged a third-party network engineer to assist with design and implementation, which helped ensure a technically sound and smooth deployment. While the project was technically complex, especially in terms of integrating with our existing infrastructure, having the right expertise and planning in place made the process feel seamless.”
There was no internal resistance from leadership or finance teams once the long-term benefits were clear. Bradyn explains, “The ability to invest in SABRENet fibre infrastructure, at a time when we could make the investment, has proven to be a wise decision that continues to deliver value.”
The SABRENet connections play a vital role in supporting Sunrise’s business model. “With high-speed fibre connecting key campuses directly to Fullarton, we can deliver centralised services reliably and efficiently without the need for distributed server infrastructure,” says Bradyn. Each connected site operates with local switching and UPS support, while core systems remain consolidated at their central site, ensuring manageability, security, and performance.
Looking ahead, Sunrise is eager to expand its SABRENet connections to additional campuses, with Morphett Vale as their next planned site. Once the new Early Learning Centre is built there, they intend to begin discussions with SABRENet about bringing that campus online.
Each new connection strengthens the overall network and unlocks greater potential for collaboration, scalability, and performance. “As we continue to adopt more cloud-based platforms, enhance cybersecurity, and streamline centralised services, SABRENet will play a key role in supporting these initiatives. The more campuses we connect, the more cohesive and future-ready our digital infrastructure becomes, empowering both staff and students across Sunrise,” explains Bradyn.
In summary Bradyn says, “Working with SABRENet has been a really positive experience. Their team was supportive, communicative, and made a technically complex project feel straightforward. The decision to invest in our own fibre network has proven to be a strategic one. It’s strengthened our infrastructure, brought long-term value, and positioned Sunrise to grow with confidence.”
