All Teaching Staff Getting Laptops - Anyone got an expectations form ?

[mattysmith80]

We are issuing Al Teaching staff laptops across our 5 Secondary Schools and taking all the desktops out the classrooms, I was wondering if anyone has a cheat sheet who has done something similar. Something along the lines of here is your laptop and these are the expectations... Always have it charged, take care of it, no sticking stickers onto it etc.

 

Thank you

[Fawthrop]

We rolled them out but with a basic Laptop agreement:

·         The provided equipment remains the property of [SCHOOL NAME] and must be returned in good working condition (normal wear and tear accepted) upon the termination of my employment with the school.

·         The equipment will be used solely for work-related purposes and in accordance with expected professional standards of behaviour and conduct.

·         I will not share my access credentials or passwords with anyone.

·         I will not download any programs or applications, nor will I delete anything without first consulting the IT department.

·         The equipment is covered under the school’s insurance while in the possession of a staff member and with the Head Teacher's permission. However, there is no coverage for theft from an unattended vehicle. When at my home, I will take all reasonable precautions to safeguard the equipment from loss or damage, ensuring it is stored securely and out of sight when not in use.

·         I will immediately notify the IT team if the device is lost or stolen so it can be remotely locked, and any confidential data secured.

·         I will report any faults or damage to the IT team as soon as they are detected.

·         I will return the equipment promptly to the IT department at designated intervals for necessary updates and checks.

·         The school’s standard ICT Acceptable Use Policy for staff applies to the use of this equipment.

[psydii]

"Don't do anything on it you wouldn't do in front of the head teacher"

"This is the school's laptop, we might swap it out for an alternative at any point for any reason"

"Save all your work in OneDrive"

"Be careful with it"

**DEMONSTRATE** how to wrap and unwrap the charging cable

"Don't shutdown unless we ask you to."

"Close the lid before you move it"

"Leave it connected to power, connected to wifi  each night "

"Please take it home each day" 

"If it takes me longer than 10 minutes to remove the stickers when you hand it back, I will hunt you down and do things that violate rule 1"

Edited June 23, 2025 by psydii

[sideone]

18 minutes ago, Fawthrop said:

I will not download any programs or applications, nor will I delete anything without first consulting the IT department.

 

We block installing of programs, no admin access given. Do they ask the IT department if they can delete a file every time?

[itskdog]

Summarised version of our agreement form:

 

1. The laptop remains property of the school

2. While in your care you are responsible for it. Your household contents policy should protect you from the standard risks.

3. Do not install or use any software without authorisation from IT

4. AV and Windows updates should be installed and restarts done when prompted

5. Let IT know ASAP for any faults so we can repair it. Don't try repairing the device yourself.

6. Training in use of the laptop and school network/email will be provided by IT

7. School is not responsible for charges to your home internet

8. Laptop must be returned when requested by IT

9. You lose/damage it, you may have to pay for it, up to a maximum of £___, at the headteacher's discretion

10. School policies, including AUP, must be adhered to at all times.

[Fawthrop]

Just now, sideone said:

 

We block installing of programs, no admin access given. Do they ask the IT department if they can delete a file every time?

 

No, they delete any of their files, it's more of a badly worded way of saying they can't delete apps that are on their laptops (they wouldn't be able to anyway without admin permissions but if someone magically finds a way to do it then it's on them)

 

They also can't install apps, only admin access can - Again, it's just a very very generic expectations form.

[itskdog]

21 minutes ago, psydii said:

"Don't shutdown unless we ask you to."

 

Surely "shut down every night" would be better, given how buggy windows gets when you just close the lid all the time and end up with over a month of uptime (especially as nobody wants to restart to install updates)

 

21 minutes ago, psydii said:

"Leave it connected to power, connected to wifi  each night "

"Please take it home each day" 

 

Is the school paying the teachers extra for the extra electric bill if it's both going home and having to stay switched on and plugged in?

[ITGuyNW]

From experience, these terms and conditions are only worth their weight if anyone actually follows up on it. 

 

The amount of laptops returned broken, cracked, messed up, stickers all over with no repercussions is too high. I don't think we've ever been able to recoup anything from accidental damage or loss.

[itskdog]

1 minute ago, ITGuyNW said:

From experience, these terms and conditions are only worth their weight if anyone actually follows up on it. 

 

The amount of laptops returned broken, cracked, messed up, stickers all over with no repercussions is too high. I don't think we've ever been able to recoup anything from accidental damage or loss.

 

This is the big thing.

 

Always ensure SLT will be on board with the policy, or you've got nobody to back you up if someone challenges it.

[Fazza]

26 minutes ago, psydii said:

"Don't shutdown unless we ask you to."

 

Surely you mean "Always shutdown unless we ask you not to."  So many problems are caused by our Teachers never shutting down their laptops, one shutdown and power on later and their problems go away.

[psydii]

2 minutes ago, itskdog said:

 

Surely "shut down every night" would be better, given how buggy windows gets when you just close the lid all the time and end up with over a month of uptime (especially as nobody wants to restart to install updates)

 

 

Is the school paying the teachers extra for the extra electric bill if it's both going home and having to stay switched on and plugged in?

No Windows is unreliable because it gets shutdown every night. Leave it on and let it update do housekeeping etc. It will reboot at least once a month to do updates. (configure updates to have a deadline where the give plenty of warning before forcing a reboot immediately)

But generally:  do not shutdown.

 

On the charging bill: that is an unserious comment. The laptop is mostly in the classroom and connected to power. it should be almost fully charged when it leaves site at the end of the day. The power consumption is minimal and a worthy expense in exchange for the flexibilty in working arrangements a laptop provides.  Also the take it home line was prefixed with "please", it's an ask and a recommendation. Rebelling against it only hurts the teacher. 

[andy_b]

"Bring it with you everyday - you need it to do your job!"

[DrBeaker]

1 hour ago, andy_b said:

"Bring it with you everyday - you need it to do your job!"

 

This - 110%.

 

How does this end up an IT problem? 

 

 

[paulkerton]

Whatever you decide, take it to your SLT for full backing. 
If you turn around and tell them not to install software, and then they proceed to lose it over their inability to install HP's printer software, or want to put software from a side hustle on it and SLT back them, then the policy isn't worth the paper it's written on.

[smurfomatic]

As above in terms of responsibility, not installing stuff, not using it as a door stop etc. and also:

 

There is no such thing as a "spare" laptop charger. Every laptop comes with one charger. Keep it with your laptop at all times. IT dept is not responsible for loaning you a charger, if you have lost or broken yours then your department will be billed £x for a replacement.

Edited June 23, 2025 by smurfomatic

[DrBeaker]

1 hour ago, smurfomatic said:

As above in terms of responsibility, not installing stuff, not using it as a door stop etc. and also:

 

There is no such thing as a "spare" laptop charger. Every laptop comes with one charger. Keep it with your laptop at all times. IT dept is not responsible for loaning you a charger, if you have lost or broken yours then your department will be billed £x for a replacement.

 

As per this though...

 

 

1 hour ago, paulkerton said:

Whatever you decide, take it to your SLT for full backing.....

 

 

if SLT don't give you full backing and make the staff responsible, there's no accountability and punishment and therefore no point in that policy existing.... at all.

 

If they forget their ID card, they can't get into areas of the school, use the copier, lunch machines etc.

If they forget their keys, they can't get into the building, classroom etc.

 

THAT ... affects teaching and learning.

 

Why 'because it has a plug on it' attitude does the above end up being an IT problem and not a line management problem same as the first two are?

 

THAT ... affects teaching and learning as well, but the attitude (generally) is O.h....IT will have a 'spare' in this case.
As said - There is no such thing as a "spare" laptop charger, every laptop comes with one charger.

Edited June 23, 2025 by DrBeaker

[Iain.Faulkner]

17 hours ago, psydii said:

"Don't do anything on it you wouldn't do in front of the head teacher"

"This is the school's laptop, we might swap it out for an alternative at any point for any reason"

"Save all your work in OneDrive"

"Be careful with it"

**DEMONSTRATE** how to wrap and unwrap the charging cable

"Don't shutdown unless we ask you to."

"Close the lid before you move it"

"Leave it connected to power, connected to wifi  each night "

"Please take it home each day" 

"If it takes me longer than 10 minutes to remove the stickers when you hand it back, I will hunt you down and do things that violate rule 1"

Definitely add the clause about stickers!! We did this project over the last few years and some of them are terrible for stickers!

[PotNoodleTech]

Congratulations on taking a step back in terms of usability and reliability.  I've only ever seen hot desk/hot swap laptops have a negative effect on teaching and learning not a positive one.  Oh and more expensive to boot.  Makes total sense!

[JazzFlute]

30 minutes ago, PotNoodleTech said:

Congratulations on taking a step back in terms of usability and reliability.  I've only ever seen hot desk/hot swap laptops have a negative effect on teaching and learning not a positive one.  Oh and more expensive to boot.  Makes total sense!

 

Was going to say the same, I'm sure these decisions are made mostly by MATs with cost and central management the main driver and not teaching and learning.  In my opinion and long experience classrooms should have dedicated Teacher PCs and hardware as part of the classroom furniture and laptops used by staff for PPA, take home etc.  Using a laptop to be the main source of teaching is a step backwards whether there are "spare" or "floating" ones available or not.

Edited June 24, 2025 by UpTheWolves

[psydii]

Not Teaching is a significant part of a Teachers job if they have any drive or dynamism and have been in the job more than a couple of years. I've found they love the flexibility that a laptop provides.  Baby teachers also love it as they are still in student-mode for the first year or so and working hard to develop their skills and find a direction for their career, thus being able to move seamlessly from work to home to work on a single devices with all their windows open and ready to go is invaluable.

 

The only gumbling grouses are the teacher who learned their trade elsewhere, have no drive (but feel entitled to promotions?) who expect everything on a plate and feel it is an affront to be expected to work in their departmental office rather than their classroom on their non-contact periods. (our room occupancy is higher than average, for various reasons, and the existence of relatively large dept offices is one of them)

 

I have literally had ex colleagues* run up and shake my hand/give me a hug  in the street/club/pub/airport and tell me how much worse their new school with a classroom desktop only environment is. 

 

On the tech-side, the trick is the right laptops, the right configuration options (including how you are accessing files, and modern standby), the right AV and power interfaces, and great wifi.

 

 

[PotNoodleTech]

TBH - I never said they couldnt have laptops - just that hot desking laptops in classrooms is bad compared to permanent hard wired teacher pcs with 100% uptime no batteries to charge no plugs to bend/break nothing to forget.

 

New Teacher PCs here in every room and office with an 86" board and 2 x 27" screens, and then as you say is needed, chromebooks for the staff to take home and work.

 

They love it.

 

It's technically superior, and cheaper per 7 year lifecycle.

 

 

Edited June 24, 2025 by PotNoodleTech

[itskdog]

2 minutes ago, PotNoodleTech said:

chromebooks for the staff to take home and work.

 

How do you get ActivInspire (or Smart Notebook, or whatever) working on the Chromebook for them to do their work for planning their next lesson?

 

I know they support Linux apps in developer mode, but that's in a Debian VM, and at least for us as a Promethean school, ActivInspire only works on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

Edited June 24, 2025 by itskdog
unfinished sentence

[mavhc]

With a Desktop: Having to login to Windows, Office, Onedrive, then wait for it to sync everything, then load up your apps, documents, websites etc for the lesson, in the 0 minutes of free time you have after you get into the classroom makes carrying a laptop much easier, plug in one usb-c cable, done.

 

Shutting down: I never bother, would the same super annoying thing as above. If the computer goes weird, restart it, otherwise just close the lid and it's sleeping, if that's not working you've bought terrible laptops, it's 2025 and you're acting like it's 1990.

[PotNoodleTech]

5 minutes ago, itskdog said:

 

How do you get ActivInspire (or Smart Notebook, or whatever) working on the Chromebook for them to do their work for planning their next lesson?

 

I know they support Linux apps in developer mode, but that's in a Debian VM, and at least for us as a Promethean school, ActivInspire only works on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

 

We've moved away long ago from propriatary PC whiteboard apps to using the in built tools on google and office365 and a couple of extra chrome apps off the play storte here and there. Each whiteboard has it's own buiult in touchg controls independant of the device pligged into it.   Bare in mind we've been a google school since 2014.

[PotNoodleTech]

4 minutes ago, mavhc said:

With a Desktop: Having to login to Windows, Office, Onedrive, then wait for it to sync everything, then load up your apps, documents, websites etc for the lesson, in the 0 minutes of free time you have after you get into the classroom makes carrying a laptop much easier, plug in one usb-c cable, done.

It's a non issue here but I have been runnig decent kit with SSDs/NVME now for years so they're used to sub 60 second logins 1 second to open chrome and all their stuff comes up etc.