Laptops for Digital Learning

Students will still write by hand and use exercise books alongside their laptop. As exams are still taken with pen and paper, and because it is a valuable skill, we will ensure students have plenty of opportunities to write by hand. In many lessons this will be alongside using laptops and in some lessons laptops will not be used at all.

Lessons will be varied and flexible. We certainly do not want our students to spend all of their learning time looking at the screen. Teacher interactions will always be of the highest value, as will practical and interactive learning opportunities. Laptops will be used to enhance the learning opportunities but not where they do not add value to the lesson.

Students will continue to read, use books and textbooks. We have a thriving library and developing reading for pleasure is a key part of our School Improvement Plan. We know textbooks are a valuable resource. Laptops can complement this and will be used to provide access to an increased range of literature.

Our teachers employ a wide range of techniques to inspire, teach and support our students in their learning. This includes using laptops and Google Workspace for Education to enable staff and students to work together, learn and explore both within and beyond lessons.

Access to laptops and the associated applications improves learning in many ways including:

• Providing tools to support teachers in effectively checking the progress of students inside and outside of lessons so that teaching can be efficiently adapted
• Enable more teaching and support targeted to individual learning needs
• Allow students to access presentations, examples and explanations multiple times
• Provide access to far greater resources
• Allowing teachers to give feedback on students’ work online and respond quickly
• Improve the continuity of learning between school and home
• Giving students the opportunity to collaborate together on projects through shared documents

These improvements will be possible because:

• Students will have access to all of the Google resources all of the time, at school and at home
• All documents are stored on Google Drive and are accessible from any device
• There is a vast range of applications available through Google Workspace for Education

Further benefits include our students leaving education with even higher IT literacy which is greatly valued in employment and higher education.

Not all devices are suitable for various reasons. Some will not work on our wireless network and mobile phones do not have large enough screens or separate keyboards. During this process we have consulted with a number of other schools and academies and without fail they have told us that all students having the same device is the most successful method. As a school it allows us to use screen monitoring software so that we, as teachers, can view all students' work in real time and support the individual needs of the students. It also ensures that software that is needed for particular subjects can be uploaded onto devices and our IT teams can become experts at supporting these machines.

In addition to this a recent vulnerability audit that we had, very clearly stated that if the school adopted a BYOD policy then it made the school much more vulnerable to cyber attack.  A local school to us has just had a cyber attack and it has huge consequences to school budget and the security and safety of the students and parents data.  We as an RMS community want to safeguard your children in every way possible and we are repeatedly told from cyber security experts, other academies and fully digital schools that we should not allow devices which students bring from home.  
 

Yes. Students will bring the devices home with them each night and they can use them for prep at home. They are expected to charge them overnight and then bring them to school fully charged ready for use the next day. Students should place their device in their bag each morning ready for the school day. You may need to support your child to remember this each day.

We will encourage the students to be as responsible as possible with their devices. However, if your child forgets their device we will have a small bank of devices that we can lend to individual students for use in school but which cannot be taken home.

No. We cannot require this from all parents/carers. We do hope that the vast majority of parents/carers will do this as students will be using these computers at least 50% of the time in lessons for school work, assessment for learning, research and simulations.

Please follow the portal link in the Tech 4 Learners brochure where you will be able to sign up to the scheme. The portal will remain open until 10th July. If paying monthly, the first payment will be debited from your account towards the end of August. If opting to pay up front, the payment will be taken on sign up.

Devices will be delivered to the school to be set up. Arrangements will then be made for the collection of these devices by parents/carers prior to the start of the school in September.

Yes - all laptops come with a protective sleeve which students are encouraged to use.

No. There is also the option on the portal to make a one off payment if you wish.

If you need financial assistance please contact the school. They will send you a financial assistance form and may be able to support you with the lease of the computer. Please see our Financial Assistance policy.

Please contact Freedom Tech if you have missed a payment using their ticket service www.freedomtech.co.uk/help/. Please note until your payment is made, your repair cover is not valid

If your financial circumstances change, it is possible you would be eligible for Financial Assistance support or you would have the options as stated above. If your child was to leave the school you would have the option to return the device or make the remainder of payments that would mean you would take ownership of the device.

At the end of the lease you will own the computer.

Freedom Tech owns the device until the final parental instalment is paid, when ownership will transfer to you. If you elect to pay upfront you will own the device from the outset.

This is covered by the Guaranteed Repair Service provided by Freedom Technology. In the event of a device being damaged, breaking down or stolen then you log the repair claim at https://freedomtech.co.uk/help. The Service team will make contact within an estimated 4 working hours (Monday to Friday). The student takes their laptop into the school’s IT department who will provide a laptop on temporary loan.

The repair centre will organise the collection of the device from school.

Once repaired the device will be delivered back to the school to be collected from the IT department and the loan machine returned.

You will be provided with policy documentation detailing what is covered. Given availability, the Robert May’s IT Team will provide a replacement device from spare stock held in school. Students will use this loan device whilst theirs is away being repaired.

There is no excess on either the repair service, theft or warranty protection. This is a huge benefit of this scheme.

Students should not need to carry books as their prep can be done on the laptops so books should be left in school and not carried to and from school. The weight of a laptop is lighter than carrying books around the school site. Students will be able to leave their books at school if they have a locker as they will not need them for Prep activities.

No - students must ensure that their laptop device is charged overnight at home. There will not be charging access points or chargers to use at school.  The battery life has been bench tested and if fully charged in the morning then the battery will last all day and more. Battery degradation over the three years has been discussed with Freedom Tech and other uses of these laptops and the response was favourable. If for any reason the device runs out of battery, students can go to the IT support office and use one of the spare ones (as long as there are enough available).

The IT strategy is to enhance the learning experience not replace it – our students will still be equipped with all the traditional skills that Robert May’s provides but also ensure that our enterprising students are prepared for the future. Through the adoption of Microsoft Education packages and the Google suite we are working hard to ensure that the huge amount of progress made during the remote learning period is built on and developed in the classroom.

We will also encourage students to not use devices during break time and lunchtime to ensure that they have a break from screens during the day time.

Yes. While we will continue to teach outstanding lessons in the classroom, the device and move to cloud storage will provide an online record of resources used in lessons and easy access to the entire school system. This will be invaluable for students who have missed lessons, misplaced a file or their notes, or left that all-important homework in their locker! This is the way that university teaching and learning has developed and will prepare our students for higher education and independent study.

Yes. At Robert May’s School we firmly believe in educating our students to use their devices safely and sensibly through our safety and pastoral programmes. Therefore, students will be able to use their devices as they would at home but will be expected to adhere to school rules and the Acceptable Use Agreement as normal when in lessons. However, if your child uploads an app which interferes with the filtering, monitoring or safeguarding operations then we will remove it. Students need to accept that their device is fully managed by the school whilst in school.

All devices are equipped with the most up to date safeguarding software which ensures that students can use the internet safely at home and in school. Our safeguarding directive comes from KCSIE (Keeping Children Safe in Education) documentation. This has very strict guidance on filtering and monitoring as well as safeguarding children online whilst in school and we have to adhere to this strict guidance. This is part of the reason we would like all students to use a scheme laptop.  Through PDL (Personal Development Learning) lessons, students study modules on keeping safe online. Throughout the year there will also be parental workshops to offer guidance on how to support your children to stay safe online. 

When we “onboard” students, we are going to encourage them to set their lock screen as a picture of themselves or something which easily identifies them should they misplace their device around school. Students are also welcome to use stickers to ensure their device is easily recognised.

Each laptop will also be labelled with the student’s name before they are handed out.

Students should keep their laptops with them during school time. At break and lunchtime they should be kept in their bags. If they get them out at this time to use other than as part of a structured activity then they will be asked to put them away. This is to encourage students to engage socially with others. During PE the changing rooms will be locked by a member of staff after the last student has left and only re-opened when the first student needs to get changed. Usually classes of students go back to the changing rooms together so there should be no opportunity for one student to be in the changing rooms on their own.

A comprehensive scheme of training has been implemented for all year groups and teachers ensure the devices not only ease home learning but also develop learning in classrooms. This will occur through the R2L (Ready 2 Learn) and RMP (Robert Mays Programme) sessions.  Staff ensure that the curriculum that we offer is digitally friendly and we hope that this will ensure engagement from our students.  We also fully expect our enterprising students to lead the way in the use of new technologies and look forward to working with them to ensure we implement the strategies which work for them.

Blended Learning is a term used around the world.  As its name suggests, ‘technology’ is blended in lessons alongside more traditional teaching and writing.

The benefit of blended learning is that it opens up lessons.  Students can become even more independent.  Strategic planning allows the teacher to give more time for discussions and higherorder thinking activities which are personalised during face-to-face interaction and feedback. The online tools enable students to have personalised instruction which supports different pace and styles of learning.  Learning becomes more mobile and students are able to access reliable, up to date, stage appropriate resources at home.

No. In a blended learning environment children will still write. Writing is no less important and we still have to prepare them for any examination system that is assessed through written exams. We have been told that examinations will continue to be written for at least the next 10 years.

We have elected to equip our students with a Lenovo device. This easily flips and folds to suit all the ways students like to learn, in and out of class. The software tools make it just as easy for IT to secure and manage. This device works if it falls off a desk, is splashed with a liquid or has the power cord compressed. It resists spills and attempts to remove keys, has metal-reinforced corners, and is 76cm drop tested (higher than most desks). This lets students learn the way they want by typing, touching, writing, capturing, drawing, and reading on one flexible device. Students can quickly switch between writing documents, running simulations, and editing videos with the latest Intel® processors. An easy-to-grip chassis also hides fingerprints and smudges. The keyboard that can be repeatedly wiped down with common household cleaning wipes, even while on.   It can also be turned into a table for easier use. The device has a long battery life and recharges quickly.  

iPads were initially used by many schools who started out on this route. This is not a recommended route at secondary level. iPads are good ‘consumer’ devices – i.e. they are good for watching media, researching on the internet. However, there are significant limitations to them. iPads do not work well for productivity either.

Chromebooks are no longer cheaper than laptops. In fact, the current Lenovo Chromebook is more expensive than the equivalent laptop and does not have as good a wifi chip. Chromebooks do not have power to run software equivalents of Photoshop for digital art work, and computing environments such as Python Shell. Also, we feel that it is important that students work in a Windows environment to prepare them for the world of work which will not use Android as an OS.

A team of senior leaders, supported by trustees, have spent time investigating numerous different options, from a wide range of suppliers. We have consulted several other schools nationally, building a picture of what works in schools similar to RMS and what does not. We carried out a comprehensive tendering process and the conclusion from this process and our research found from all our research that Freedom Tech is not only the most widely used leasing company in education but also the most experienced in 1:1 device schemes. The service agreement and range of suppliers they source from has given RMS a range of competitive quotes to select the very best devices from and confidence from other schools that we are in safe hands.

Freedom Tech has an understanding of the education sector that far outstrips other providers that we have consulted with. The inclusion of guaranteed repair service as part of the package means that we don’t have to include a separate policy as part of the agreement.

If you would like to contact us regarding this scheme, please use the Contact Form below.

Students will be using laptops in many lessons.  They will be able to access the whole Google suite and Microsoft applications.  They will use online textbooks for support and challenge and a whole suite of Assessment for Learning activities which will be able to diagnose misconceptions and act on these. Staff will be able to monitor screens so that they can identify students who are struggling, or need challenge,  more rapidly and can then act accordingly. Photoshop will be used in Art lessons, coding programmes such as Python used in Computer Science lessons and a whole range of virtual experiments in Science. There are simulations to support understanding used in Science along with videos to support students to work at their own rate in Maths.  We are also investigating the use of Virtual Reality in History and RE. The possibilities and opportunities for our students using the laptops is much greater than at present.  
 

Each device will be set up with a school managed account and a personal account.  The aim of the scheme would be for the device to be fully managed by the school; apps needed for school would become preinstalled.  Administrative access to the laptop is granted as part of the scheme.  If any software hinders the operation within school it is possible applications will be removed or in some cases a device may need to be reset back to the original state.  We will send out an agreement that parents will need to sign outlining this information.  
 

If the original laptop can be repaired it will be.  If it can not be repaired it will be replaced with a like-for-like replacement.  

We have a full IT team who work from RMS who are very proficient in working the school systems and Windows. 

Yes

Students will not be using computers all day, every day. Their lessons will be interactive and engaging.  They will continue to have PE, Drama, Music, Food and Nutrition and Design Technology.  Display screen equipment training is for staff and not children.  However, we will work with students during their on-boarding process to ensure that they understand how to sit properly and protect their own posture. 

We understand that asking people for extra costs at this time is really hard. We are offering monthly payment plans and financial assistance to people who can not afford the outlay.  
 

This is due to the fact that it does not have the extended warranty and repair service (with loan laptop) that Freedom Tech provides.

Please read the Financial Assistance Policy on our website.  If you would like to discuss this then please contact the Head of Year or the Finance Manager.

We have consulted with Heads of Department to find out what devices they needed.  The device that we are recommending has been bench tested very carefully and our IT team are confident that we can use every application required for the KS3 curriculum.  When we were choosing devices we were balancing the specification with affordability and these devices provide us with a good compromise. This device will support Windows 11. 

We have carried out a rigorous bench testing and evaluation process - this was on the 8GB specification and all appliances required for school use worked well.  Our IT team were pleasantly surprised by the capabilities of the machine.  

We will be using Window Pro.  

We will not be using Windows 12 with these laptops.  
 

Yes - we have very strict guidelines that we have to follow for filtering and monitoring in order to keep your children safe. 

They will have the Education package installed originally and then we will add the RMS software required.  

Both - 365 will be covered by a school licence.  This will be removed once a child leaves the school. 

They are managed by Intune.

At this point your child will be in Year 9 and completing their option choices.  Students will need to evaluate what they have then opted to study. If they have opted to study more written based subjects they could continue to use their original laptop. However, if they are studying Computer Science, Photography or Design Technology, they may wish to upgrade.