After trialling Year 9 students bringing devices to school in 2018, the College will invite all students from Years 9-13 in 2019 to do the same.

Much of the classroom work the students experience does make use of digital tools in addition to traditional classroom activities; the two are not mutually exclusive but complimentary. The College’s approach is to use digital tools when the time and task is right to do so. Students are not expected to be using their devices for every minute of the class, for every class.

Recommended Devices

We strongly recommend laptops, either PC or MAC, but are happy in the Junior College for students to use a Chromebook or Netbook.

As students move through to the Senior College Chromebooks/ Netbooks are not always suitable for all classroom demands. As a result, we highly recommend a device with a full operating system such as Windows or MacOS so they can effectively complete work in these subjects.

Specific subjects that such a device would be recommended would be L1-3 Calculus, Statistics, Music, Art, Media, and Physics. If a device is well managed it should last a student approximately 3 years.

To manage a device it is best to fully charge it at home overnight and leave the charger at home, transport it in a protective case, ensure the device is not overloaded with personal music, images, and video files and has the appropriate Anti-virus software.

For a list of specifications please follow this link to the College Webiste: https://www.roncalli.school.nz/curriculum/byo-device.

Currently the College has a relationship with Harvey Norman and has worked with them to assemble a selection of devices to meet these requirements. Please mention that you/your student is a member of the Roncalli community fo special deals. However parents and students should not be restricted to this relationship and may purchase suitable devices that meet the above criteria from their own sources. 

Software

We are a Google school, and your student has a College Gmail account that gives them access to a range of Google Digital Tools. These are all cloud based so there is no need to download any software.

In partnership with Microsoft, Roncalli College also provides access to download Microsoft Office 365 on up to five devices whilst they are enrolled. Go to www.office.com and enter your student email and password to access Office 365 and then download the specific Word, Excel, PowerPoint applications.