What's your number?

[Stuart_C]

No not THAT number, what's the ratio of PC's to pupil's in your school? I would like the ratio of machines that the studdents can actually use so obviously not the one's in people's office's or teacher laptops and the like.

 

I'd prefer answers from indy schools to be more relevant to me but I'll take any statistics. For reference I reckon that we are about 1:2.2 which I think is quite high but I need some other numebrs to back that statement up.

 

Cheers.

[TwoZeroAlpha]

I reckon I'm on about 1:4, would nice to have a lower number, but limited on space, and budget.

[Tricky_Dicky]

About 1:4 of machines the children can use. Most are laptops as well due to space.

 

That's in a primary school with 800ish children, 1 IT suite, 5 laptop trolleys and a few breakout areas with 6 machines for small groups.

Edited September 20, 2010 by Tricky_Dicky

[glennda]

We have about 1.5:3 in classrooms for students to use (11 it suites with 30 computers in plus also a few with 15 machines in) - plus the library with about 30 machines in

 

but overall we have around 1000 machines to 2000 people

 

Sixth form have network sockets about 50 for internet access etc rather then the pants wireless

 

but we are a technology college

[Hightower]

We have about 1.5:3 in classrooms for students to use

 

Otherwise known as 1:2

[Rydra]

110 PC's, 400 students, so about 1:4, Primary school. 50 of those not setup yet as only bought this summer.

[glennda]

Otherwise known as 1:2

 

yeah i realised that after i posted!! i was going to pub 1/2:3 as i wasnt sure of the exact figures!

[TronXP]

Independant of around 900

 

PC:Student ration is 1:6

[witch]

1:10 Primary - -Not good

[maniac]

500ish student PC's and lets see . . . . 450 students, so that's more than one PC per student. OK admitedly some of our machines are getting on a bit, but while they still work they get kept and pushed into a back corner of the school somehwhere. Most of them do get regularly used as well.

 

Mike.

[bladedanny]

We're a Primary school with about 1:5.

[localzuk]

Our ratio has changed a bit recently, we now have 1:4 - 150ish student PCs to 600 kids. We then have about 100 machines floating around for staff (laptops, desktops, thin clients etc... - some staff have a desktop and a laptop, some have just a laptop).

 

But then, we have a lot of staff.

[Hightower]

We're around 1:3 here. About 210 student machines to around 640 pupils.

[Iain.Faulkner]

We're school of 1250 students and we have approximately 350 machines for curriculum usage, meaning a ratio of around 1:3.5

[gibbo_ap]

2:1 450+ stations & 900+ kids

[Stuart_C]

Cheers for all that guy and gals.

 

I know it's a rare thing to say but I think that we are getting to the point where we have too many computers. People are just wanting more because they want their own mini suite in a classroom (not something I agree with as I don't think it works and there are never Enough machines so they end up splitting classes which they shouldn't be doing anyway).

 

I just need some numbers to back up my idea to halt computer expansion and look to consoladate what we have into better facilities.

[elsiegee40]

Independent Nursery & Primary: Curriculum machines only pupil:PC = 1:5

[accura2000]

Nursery to Year 2 is 4:1

Year 3 is 3:1

Years 4 to 6 is 1:1.

[Stuart_C]

Independent Nursery & Primary: Curriculum machines only pupil:PC = 1:5

 

1 Pupil to 5 PC's!?!?

[maniac]

Cheers for all that guy and gals.

 

I know it's a rare thing to say but I think that we are getting to the point where we have too many computers. People are just wanting more because they want their own mini suite in a classroom (not something I agree with as I don't think it works and there are never Enough machines so they end up splitting classes which they shouldn't be doing anyway).

 

I just need some numbers to back up my idea to halt computer expansion and look to consoladate what we have into better facilities.

 

It does work, but only if its managed well and the money and resources are there to support it. Our PCs are carefully managed and I do draw the line with some departments like our science department who wanted some Desktop PCs and wanted to retain all their laptops as well - they were told they would lose 1 laptop for every desktop PC they got given so settled for 30 desktops - 15 in 2 labs and a cabinet of 30 laptops. With more and more reliance on ICT in lesssons, it's hard to be able to justify standing in the way of expansion, but you do need a plan to go with it.

 

I think we are better resourced ICT wise than pratically any other school I've been to which works 2 fold. On one hand the staff can use ICT in any lesson they want to without having to book a facility. On the other hand, it does create an over reliance on ICT from some staff members, and if the system is down for any reason it causes a massive amount of disruption. At any one time in the school there's usually over 200 students using computers out of a total roll of 450. In exchange for getting the facilities they do, departments do have to be responsible for their own sets of machines, and vandalism and damage to machines is charged to department budgets.

 

It costs alot to run as well, as they are mainly laptops, and we replace around 20% of our batteries a year and quite a few screens, keyboards and power supplies. I think I spent around £10,000 keeping all our laptops functioning last year, only half of this was for repairing vandalism, the other half was replacing parts which had malfunctioned, particularly batteries.

 

Mike.

Edited September 21, 2010 by maniac

[Chris_]

Mid-sized secondary school, pupils:PC's ~4:1

[Stuart_C]

Part of the problem is that I don't think anyone's (at SMT level) considered the cost of maintaining our PC's as part of long term plan. Tending more towards the knee jerk reaction of throwing money at stuff when people complain a lot. Given that the Bursur (my Line Manager) likes planned and budgeted expenditure I've got to do something about raising the issue. Not sure how it's going to go down but at least I'll have done my job of highlighting the issue and if more investment is needed on PC's then that is something they can look at in relation to the global budgets.

[PeteM]

1:2 ish

[maniac]

Part of the problem is that I don't think anyone's (at SMT level) considered the cost of maintaining our PC's as part of long term plan. Tending more towards the knee jerk reaction of throwing money at stuff when people complain a lot. Given that the Bursur (my Line Manager) likes planned and budgeted expenditure I've got to do something about raising the issue. Not sure how it's going to go down but at least I'll have done my job of highlighting the issue and if more investment is needed on PC's then that is something they can look at in relation to the global budgets.

 

Yes, it's all about having a plan. We have relatively good procedures for reporting damage, A good asset management system which keeps track of where all our machines are, which ones are in for repair etc. and a rolling replacement program. Machines are distributed evenly amongst departments so each department has a mix of old and new machines to make it as fair as possible. The school should have a 3-5 year ICT plan which should forecast projected spending and tie in with other plans like future expansion plans, increased rolls and changes in the curriculum e.g BTEC courses have a heavy reliance on ICT so these need to be catered for.

 

If the costs of maintenance haven't been considered then it's your job to highlight that, and if SMT don't allow you a decent budget to maintain equipment then do what I do and pass complaints from staff about the facilities on to them. It's all about getting the balance correct - you can't just keep adding machines left right and centre without considering the long term implications. Equally so, it's important to make sure there is enough access to facilties to allow the students to complete their courses sucessfully and the teachers to use ICT without having to many restrictions on accessibility. If there's a constant battle amongst staff to access facilities then you've not got enough. If there's groups of machines sitting not being used then you've got too much, or it's not being used effectively. All of these issues can be drafted into a long term plan together with costings and a 10% contigency if possible as there's always unforeseen problems or issues which will need emegency spending to address them - e.g it's difficult to predict when things like projector bulbs will need replacing.

 

Mike.