In short: School phone systems are business phone systems set up for schools, academies and trusts, with reception menus, absence lines that send messages to a shared mailbox, term-time and holiday schedules, cordless handsets for site staff and call recording where policy allows. Cloud platforms such as Teams Phone, Forever UC and hosted 3CX suit most schools and multi-academy trusts.
What schools need from a phone system
A school office handles a very particular pattern of calls: a rush of absence calls first thing, parents and suppliers through the day, and almost nothing during the holidays. A good school phone system is built around that:
- A reception menu that sends callers to attendance, the office, finance, SEND or the site team
- An absence line that takes messages and delivers them to a shared mailbox, so they are not trapped on one phone
- Term-time and holiday schedules, with closure and snow-day messages that can be switched on quickly
- Cordless handsets for caretakers, site staff and leaders who are rarely at a desk
- Call recording where your policy allows, with clear notices for callers
- Apps for staff working off site, so the school number can be used from home without giving out personal numbers
- Shared systems for trusts, so several schools can run on one platform
Absence lines, menus and schedules
Most of the difference between a frustrating school phone system and a good one is in the call flow.
Absence lines. A dedicated option in the menu (or a separate number) plays a short message asking parents for the pupil's name, class and reason, then records it. With voicemail to email, every message arrives in a shared attendance mailbox with the audio attached, so the attendance officer can work through them and nothing is lost if someone is off sick.
Menus. Keep the main menu short, put the most common reason first, and give callers a way to reach a person. Separate options for urgent safeguarding concerns should go straight to a staffed phone, not voicemail.
Schedules. Set opening hours, lunchtime and holiday schedules once and the system follows them. A closure message for bad weather or an emergency can be switched on in a portal or app without an engineer. Our phone system features glossary explains auto attendants, hunt groups and the other terms.
Cordless phones for site staff
Caretakers, premises managers, heads of year and leaders on duty spend most of the day away from a desk. IP DECT cordless handsets connect to a cloud phone system through base stations on the school network, and larger sites can add more bases so handsets keep working across buildings and playgrounds. Ruggedised handsets suit site teams, and a survey of the site shows where bases are needed.
See cordless DECT phones for how it works, and VoIP phones for desk phones and reception consoles.
Multi-academy trusts and federations
A multi-academy trust or federation can run every school on one cloud phone system. Each school keeps its own number, menus and schedule, while staff share one extension range, calls transfer between schools internally, and the trust's central team can manage the whole system and see reporting across schools.
It also makes it easier to share an attendance or finance team across schools, or to have one school's calls overflow to another when the office is closed. For how to design this, read multi-site phone systems.
Platform options for schools
| Platform | Why schools choose it |
|---|---|
| Microsoft Teams Phone | Many schools and trusts already use Microsoft 365 education licences; Teams Phone adds calling, and Microsoft offers education licensing (ask us for a quote) |
| Forever Teams | Teams calling over Direct Routing, keeping the school's existing numbers, with optional call recording |
| Forever UC | App-first hosted phone system with menus, department groups and voicemail to email; Plus and Contact add call recording kept for 180 days |
| Hosted 3CX | Wide choice of desk and DECT phones, strong reception tools and one annual system licence |
| Webex Calling | Suits schools with Cisco networks or that use Webex |
| BT Cloud Voice | For schools that want BT for lines, broadband and phones; see cloudvoice.cloud |
Microsoft lists Microsoft 365 A3 and Office 365 A1 among the education subscriptions that can take Teams Phone. Education pricing is available from Microsoft for eligible institutions: ask us for a quote.
Recording, data protection and the switch-off
Call recording. Some schools record calls to protect staff and resolve disputes. If you do, UK GDPR applies: have a lawful basis, tell callers (usually with a short message), set a retention period and limit who can listen back. Our business call recording page covers the options by platform. This is general information, not legal advice; follow your trust's data protection policy and your Data Protection Officer's guidance.
The PSTN switch-off. Many schools still have analogue lines for the main number, intruder and fire alarms, lift phones, door entry and card terminals. Those lines are due to stop working when the PSTN is switched off on 31 January 2027. Use our PSTN switch-off checklist to find every line, and see the alarm and special lines guide for the devices that need care.
Contact us with your school or trust's sites and current set-up, and we will recommend the platform that fits.
Why choose your cloud phone system with Forever Systems
We are vendor-neutral. Forever Group supplies and supports several cloud phone platforms, so we recommend the one that fits how your organisation works rather than the one we happen to sell.
- Side-by-side comparison of hosted 3CX, Microsoft Teams Phone, Forever UC, Forever Teams and Webex Calling for your users
- Contact centre and call recording options matched to your call volumes and CRM
- Number porting, handsets and set-up handled for you, including the move off analogue and ISDN lines
- Connectivity checked so call quality is right from day one
- UK support for moves, adds, changes and faults
- For BT Cloud Voice, see our BT Business Partner site cloudvoice.cloud
We work with businesses, schools, charities and public sector organisations. We do not sell consumer phone services.
Want a vendor-neutral cloud phone system comparison and quote?
Tell Forever Systems what you need and we will come back to you by email with options, not a hard sell.
Contact usFrequently asked questions
Can absence calls go to email?
Yes. An absence line can record a message from parents and deliver it as an audio file to a shared mailbox, so the attendance team can work through messages together and nothing is lost on a single phone.
Can a multi-academy trust share one phone system?
Yes. A cloud phone system can serve every school in a trust, with each school keeping its own number, menu and schedule, while staff share one extension range and the trust manages everything centrally.
Is there education pricing for Microsoft Teams Phone?
Microsoft offers education licensing for eligible schools, and its education subscriptions such as Microsoft 365 A3 and Office 365 A1 can take Teams Phone. Ask us for a quote based on your licences and number of users.
Can schools record phone calls?
Many can, where school policy allows. Under UK GDPR you need a lawful basis, should tell callers that calls are recorded, and should set retention and access rules. Check with your Data Protection Officer before switching recording on.
What happens to school phone lines in the PSTN switch-off?
Analogue and ISDN lines are due to stop working when the PSTN is switched off on 31 January 2027. Schools need to move phone systems and any alarms, lift lines, door entry and card terminals that use those lines to an alternative before then.