BYOD report for Years 9, 10 and 11 students.

This year has started positively, with our staff offering an online environment to support our students in their 21st century learning. Our teaching and support staff are ensuring that students can access our wifi and understand our systems, while offering students learning experiences that are authentic, collaborative, and made possible due to the access of online tools and research capabilities of their laptops.

Students in Years 9,10 and 11 need to bring their laptop to school everyday. Most students are doing this and they are able to enhance their learning experiences, to access e-learning opportunities, and to better prepare themselves for life beyond school and lifelong learning experiences. Students who forget to bring their laptop, and don’t overcome this situation at the start of the school day by hiring one from us, do get behind and need to do a lot more catching up of work at home. (Just as they would if they forgot other needed items for classes, such as a workbook). If students are struggling to remember to bring their laptop, the student’s teacher may ring a caregiver to ask for support in getting the student ready for school each morning (or the night before).

Our school does have a small number of laptops for students in Years 9, 10 and 11 to borrow for a day if their laptop is being repaired, or they forget to either charge their device or to bring them on a certain day. These are available before school from our computer technician and must be returned at the end of the day.

If students do not own a laptop, the school does have a small number of devices to rent at a cost of $25 per term. Students or caregivers need to pick up a contract from the school office or caregivers can contact me directly and I will email out a copy of the contract. The contract explains the terms of the agreement and the fee that needs to be paid.

Charging stations are available in our new buildings for USB and power adapters. At the start of the year I emailed all students to let them know about the Microsoft 35 offer, which allows Microsoft Office to be installed on a number and range of personal devices at no cost. Do not hesitate to use this offer for your family-owned devices and ask your child for the information to be able to do this. The access to the Microsoft website is through your child’s school email address.