I.T Suites (primary) Still relevant?

[gpjt]

We currently have an I.T suite which used have 32 workstations and are down to 26 at the moment because of ageing equipment.

 

My question is are I.T suites still relevant? I and our Head personally both see a value in classes being taught in it with a proper keyboard and mouse, educating our iPad generation pupils, where most of the children instantly believe that every monitor is touch screen and has the swipe functions. Teaching the fundamentals of a keyboard and mouse is still relevant?

 

What does the modern I.T suite look like now?

 

I have the opportunity to either replace what we have now or make a change. If we do go with replacing the PC's, I'm thinking minimum spec would needs to be i5 or AMD equivalent, 16GB RAM, 240GB SSD, graphics card minimum spec for Minecraft Education.

 

Look forward to your thoughts.

[pooley]

We decommissioned ours, moved the pc's into classrooms.

 

DCF is taught but I see no real ICT teaching happening.

 

Seems space is a premium and the room was better utilised as a classroom.

[Cazab]

I have found it varies wildly by primary school & a common theme I have observed is that those that have never had a dedicated IT Suite, but used to have a handful of computers in various classrooms and the library, stay this way and usually have a lot more mobile devices and choose laptops/Chromebooks over a dedicated IT Suite.

Those that have an established ICT curriculum have tended to have a dedicated IT suite with desktops.

I also support primaries which have an IT Suite and additional student computers in classroom, and then class set(s) of iPads on top of that.

[Patrick]

Decommissioned most in my schools I look after, though some still have a suite. When it was time to refresh the PC's we bought laptops and trolleys instead and the suite normally gets turned into an intervention room. As said previously, space is at a premium in primaries.

[gpjt]

Thanks for the reply @pooley

 

I can totally understand that and each individual school will have their constraints and have to make a decision on what's more important.

We are lucky enough that space isn't an issue and a Head that is all for having an ICT suite. They like "seeing a class full of pupils using it" were their words to me.

[pooley]

Thanks for the reply @pooley

 

I can totally understand that and each individual school will have their constraints and have to make a decision on what's more important.

We are lucky enough that space isn't an issue and a Head that is all for having an ICT suite. They like "seeing a class full of pupils using it" were their words to me.

 

I'd love to have kept our suites, but the decision wasn't mine.

[GizmoIT]

We have certainly noticed a change (particularly since lockdown) Our new intakes of primary to secondary have very little to no keyboard/mouse skills. Which as the OP says is the product of the iPad & Touchscreen generation. Our ICT Teaching staff have to spend longer periods of time in lessons explaining the basics.

[mavhc]

Yes, unless you have 1:1 laptops

[LeMarchand]

Two of my 3 got rid, but have class sets of Chromebooks.

 

The other has a suite which gets used quite a lot, as a member of SMT has yet to lay down the law on booking the mobile devices, which could be anywhere in the school.

[mikeprice]

My last school (Primary) had an IT suite and I found it useful to have

 

The Head insisted that every class teacher in the Junior section used the room at least once a week - which forced them to think about what to use it for

 

I also used it to teacher IT to Year 5 and Year 6 one afternoon a week

 

It did give them decent exposure to full Office programs and proper keyboards - so I hope it would have helped them when they got to Secondary School

 

I suspect it has been taken over as an extra classroom or other space

[DEfrostphone]

Yes a IT Suite is needed specially in KS1, if you want to teach a whole class lesson. Laptops, Chromebooks take too long to setup for the KS1 child to log into with Adult help. Ipads do work in KS1. KS2 Laptops\Chromebook can be used as a replacement for IT Suite.

2 of my Primary got rid of their IT Suites many years ago. 3 others have old IT suite with old PCs\MACs which need to be replaced, very slow! But are still in use mainly by KS1. As KS2 have class sets of Ipads or Chromebooks.

[Aprice]

Personally don't know of many primaries with them anymore. However from the secondaries I've worked in over the last 5 years or so I think we have a real issue with the IT literacy of kids. Sure they know how to use a smart phone, but we have Y11 students that have no idea how to save a Word document, students that have never saved anything in their secondary career just turn the PC off at the end of the lesson job done.

 

We now have to attend controlled assessment lessons to ensure the kids actually save the work.

 

I do believe this has something to do with the taking out of IT suites, and the sort of move to iPads / Chromebooks that I've seen. Sure they're great devices but I think it isn't really preparing kids for secondary or the 'real world'.

Edited November 13, 2023 by Aprice

[gaz350b]

Our primary has both an IT Suite and a dedicated science lab!

 

The IT Suite was inspired by a Bus style IT suite, fairly narrow AIO pcs and narrow keyboards so the devices could be packed in closely (which you can do at primary).

 

Space gets used as a break out space to do reading etc when not booked for IT based lessons.

[Oaktech]

We have suites at all of my schools - the staff have been consulted about them and have asked for them to remain. This decision is based on the fact that they have 45 minutes lessons and getting a trolley full of laptops out and set up takes about half the available lesson time before the kids even try to log in. Being able to walk the class into the suite, sit down and wiggle the mouse to wake up takes minutes. We have a full and fairly involved computing curriculum prescribed by our MAT so everything has to work!

[Sonic007]

We got rid of ours. Back in the day you had to go to the "computer room". Now all our laptops and iPads etc get taken to the classrooms and wheeled around the school.

You don't need a fixed location any more.

[Cat_Jam148]

Primary here

 

Still have one. Last updated in 2019 with 33 new machines (i5,8gb RAM, SSD etc.)

 

Staff here like the convenience - not having to deal with a laptop trolley, batteries not being charged, updates applying etc. You also can't beat a good ol' wired connection for log on speeds IMO.

 

Pupils look forward to a lesson in the IT suite, maybe because its different than their usual learning environment and feels 'special'? They treat it more like a library, where there is barely a whisper while they're working away.

 

I still feel its important that pupils get exposure to a proper keyboard and mouse setup. We're lucky here that we have a very healthy IT estate, so our pupils get access to every form of tech (iPad trolleys in every class, whole school Laptop trolley and an IT Suite) and I think it prepares them much better for the future.

[mikeprice]

I do feel that for Primary having a trip out of the classroom is quite a good thing

 

They spend most of the day in the same room - so having one or two "special" rooms is a nice break

 

for Year 6 it also gets them used to moving around like they will have to do in "Big School"

 

As well as getting them used to proper keyboards and mouses

 

 

When I first started as a trainee teacher in 2003 my HOD commented that it was only a few years since he had stopped getting kids up from Primary who could not use a mouse at all - never seen one

 

we are getting back to that stage nowadays

[Jobos]

I'm at a primary and the suite was refitted in 2020 with 32 new PCs but they are still plenty fast enough. We also have 47 pupil laptops stored in trolleys and 60 iPads but having the suite makes it so much better for teaching. There was a time when the suite was removed but the new head who was a teacher when it was removed reinstated it the first summer he was made head as he saw the value of having it.

[ICTDirect_Dave]

I have the opportunity to either replace what we have now or make a change. If we do go with replacing the PC's, I'm thinking minimum spec would needs to be i5 or AMD equivalent, 16GB RAM, 240GB SSD, graphics card minimum spec for Minecraft Education.

This has been our standard Desktop/Mini Winodws 11 ready PC spec for a while now. Covers most eventualities. In terms of running minecraft, we've found it works just fine on standard 8th Gen intel UHD graphics

[Oaktech]

This has been our standard Desktop/Mini Winodws 11 ready PC spec for a while now. Covers most eventualities. In terms of running minecraft, we've found it works just fine on standard 8th Gen intel UHD graphics

 

Can confirm - it runs just fine on Dave's 800-G4 USFF desktops!

[gpjt]

I do like the look of the HP Mini-in-one setup, which would be ideal for our ICT Suite. Don't suppose you have any of those coming in?

[ICTDirect_Dave]

I do like the look of the HP Mini-in-one setup, which would be ideal for our ICT Suite. Don't suppose you have any of those coming in?

 

I certainly do. We've got the minis as specced above, HP EliteDisplay E233 23" IPS screens and mounting kits for the PC available and ready to ship. Its an ace system.

 

Drop me a PM if you're interested.