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Hello What does everyone do relating to PAT testing student-owned laptops as part of a 1:1 scheme? These are owned by the student, but we manage the devices and the scheme. All students own the same Lenovo Thinkpad. Our normal PAT testing is during the holidays when obviously the students are not around. What does everyone else do or recommend with regard to the law or advise?

Hi there, I've been advising a single-form primary who have decided they want to go 1:1 (starting with one or two years in KS2), and have settled on Chromebooks as the device for them (specifically they seem fairly set on the cheap LGFL Lenovo 300e ones). I know plenty of secondaries that have gone down this route, but haven't been able to directly connect them to any other primaries. So, stab in the dark, anyone out there with or familiar with a primary that's opted for 1:1 Chromebooks in at least KS2, who'd be happy to chat with the Assistant Head? Anyone out there have first-hand experience with these particular devices and happy to share some feedback? Bonus points if London-based. Thanks!

I hope this is allowed by admin. We are involved with organising a Free Google for Education event at Google London. We are reference school for Google using G Suite for education and have a 1:1 scheme with Chromebooks and will have 1500 students involved with this by Easter 2017. Take a look at the flyer below and sign up through our Google partners page.

Hi everyone. As we are intending to make more use of our BYOD facilities, I am looking at providing secure storage and charging facilities for our students. While I accept that with BYOD, the responsibility for ensuring a device is properly charged rests with the user, we all know as technologists that batteries have a nasty habit of not lasting as long as we'd hope they might. And we also know as support staff that students do not always think the day through until the last possible minute. Does anyone else here have charging bays / stations / areas for student use in their school, and would like to share the rough percentage of charging bays to students? At the moment I am thinking about 15% coverage - but this is a purely arbitrary figure and given the cost of them, some crowd-sourced info from other schools already doing this would be helpful! Thanks in advance!

Hi, We are looking to rollout 1:1 tablet at our school starting from next year. We will most likely get the tablets for Year 7 and 10 students to start with but this hasn't been finalised yet. We are also considering giving tablets to our teachers(with dock) for better mobility. I have started researching on the models available out there so that I can shortlist the ones which will suit us best. MS Surface/Pro and Dell are on the top of my list. Once shortlisted, I am planning to get them to send out couple of units to us so that we could evaluate them before making a decision. I would like some recommendations on which tablets/specs will suit best for teachers and students. Another important decision we have to make is on financing the devices. Being a small school we do not have the funds available to purchase them from our budget. My preference is to buy them outright and get the parents to pay an annual ICT levy which covers the cost of the devices and software as this makes it much easier to manage them from IT perspective. However, our business manager is reluctant to use this model and wants the parents to buy the devices directly from the vendor/supplier so that we do not have to deal with any money matters. I can imagine all the mess and management headache it will create and I am also unsure how I will deploy OS and applications on the devices. Moreover, if they are student owned, we may not be able to install some of them due to licensing restrictions. I would like to know if others have been in a similar situation to us and what have they done so that it is a win-win for everyone. Thanks

If your school or trust is about to invest in devices for pupils, your organisation could qualify for free support, worth up to £10,000, from our partners TA Education (Microsoft in Education Global Training Partner). The Microsoft Accelerate and Demonstrate (A&D) programme is designed to accelerate the digital transformation process and capture this journey to demonstrate the impact and possibilities to other institutions. [TABLE=width: 100%] [TR] [TD=align: left] What Can You Expect? [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=class: es-m-txt-c, align: left]✓ Create and implement a significant percentage of an effective digital strategy in a condensed timeframe. ✓ Upskill teaching and non-teaching staff in the use of technology, including the acquisition of a number of recognised Microsoft accreditations, e.g., Microsoft Certified Educator and Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert. ✓ Improve students learning experiences, digital skills, and academic attainment. ✓ Achieve long-term financial savings (e.g., print, energy, staff time). ✓ Become recognised as a leading school in the adoption of technology and be invited to share their story on the national or international stage. [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Case Study video: If you want to find out if your organisation qualifies, please reach out to: [email protected] or call me (Brad) on 0333 111 0004

Hello We have recently gone 1:1 devices and pupils will be taking them home shortly. We have a few that don't have access to wifi at home. Just wondering how others have gone about solving that. Have you provided dongles? Had a company talk about wifi-meshing with large companies that don't use their allowance but I think that will be lengthy to setup. Thanks