1:1 Chromebook schemes

[fiza]

Has anyone gone 1:1 with Chromebooks?

Just looking at the benefits and the pitfalls.

 

What kind of purchase scheme did you do? School purchased or Parental contributions?

[dhicks]

Has anyone gone 1:1 with Chromebooks?

 

Each pupil in years 4,5,6,7 and 8 is assigned an individual Chromebook - they stay on site, stored in charging cabinets in classrooms that charge them overnight. Devices were bought by the school, not by parents. Battery life seems okay so far, devices are about 18 months old. Wireless seems okay on our 5-year-old Ruckus system, although that's something we know we could probably do with upgrading soonish.

[rogerdnixon]

Each pupil in years 4,5,6,7 and 8 is assigned an individual Chromebook - they stay on site, stored in charging cabinets in classrooms that charge them overnight. Devices were bought by the school, not by parents. Battery life seems okay so far, devices are about 18 months old. Wireless seems okay on our 5-year-old Ruckus system, although that's something we know we could probably do with upgrading soonish.

We have 1:1 Y7-13. 1080 students.

Various options for parents. Buy outright, monthly options, take home loan with deposit and free day loan option.

 

Basically make sure use of G Suite is very embedded before going 1:1. We went staff 1:1 Chromebooks first.

 

Fixes devices in house - don't waste money on external insurance. Way cheaper and faster.

 

Make sure WiFi is rock solid.

 

Any ways - we are a Google Reference School - so do get in touch if you want more details.

 

Roger

[fiza]

Thanks Roger. Who do you get your Chromebooks from? Do they offer the finance packages direct to parents?

[rogerdnixon]

Thanks Roger. Who do you get your Chromebooks from? Do they offer the finance packages direct to parents?

We buy them from whoever does the best deal. Normally C-Learning do the best price for us. They can offer various options I believe. However, we buy the devices outright and sell on to parents at cost. Buy outright we use Parentmail to collect the money and for monthly Edde.

 

No finance arrangements at all - money comes to us and we add the collection cost to what we charge parents. So we can offer parents a very good deal at around 2/3 of the retail price. This gives us about a 80% buy rate.

 

Insurance is an optional £15 a year. That comes to us and we fix devices in house. We use the £15's to stock our spare part cupboard.

 

You can get a third party to do it all for you but the cost will be much higher.