With a focus on learning, a student’s laptop opens many digital tools that can be used to meet their learning needs in their day-to-day lessons at school.

Bayfield High School has a BYOD policy and strongly recommends that each student should have their own laptop. We believe that a ‘blended’ approach to teaching and learning is the most appropriate way to deliver the curriculum in the 21st century. This involves the use of both digital and paper resources to support learning in the classroom. Laptop use will:

• Prepare students for life in the digital world

• Prepare them for digital assessment in NCEA

• Assist students to be more independent and have the digital resource for research

• Improve self-management

• Help students to be more time efficient and productive in the classroom

• Allow students to be more creative and collaborative

• Helps students to keep up with class work when away from school

Specifications

It is recommended that student laptops should meet a base specification of:

• 8GB RAM

• 256 GB storage

• minimum screen size of 11.6”

• have a headphone jack

• WiFi 6

• be capable of running the Microsoft platform of tools as we work predominantly with Microsoft Teams, OneNote and OneDrive which are accessed free through a school login

Guidelines

We have placed some clear guidelines around the use of BYOD:

• Devices can only be used in the classroom for work as directed by the teacher.

• A student is fully responsible for the care and upkeep of their own device. The device must be fully charged at the start of each day. Please ensure the device is covered in your household insurance policy.

• Only laptops with a screen of 11.6 inches or larger are appropriate for active use across a range of applications

Bayfield High School recommends students have a laptop style device. If you have an existing Chromebook, this can be made to work for students in the junior school.