Paying for a schools ICT needs

Heliflyguy

My DD state primary school has come up with a plan to equip all its children and it would seem staff with laptops as they say that what they currently have is not good enough and there is no budget for ICT available.
The plan is that via a local charity each childs parents would pay £12 per month by direct debit, and this is only an aproximate at this time and probably based on the fact the every parent would pay (and I doubt they will) and that would cover the cost of the laptops and possibly maintenance although there seems to be very little information regarding this.
My first impression is that I am not very excited about the prospect of having to fork out £216 (based on the above) for the use of a laptop for the time my DD will be at the school and would rather buy her a laptop then she could continue to use it at her next school this may or may not be practical of course and then you have the situation were some children have laptops and others do not.
Does anybodys childs school have a simalar scheme running? are there any pertinant questions I should be asking the school like were are they safely going to put all these laptops or maybe they expect you to look after them at home? and are my feelings of being mugged (again) for more money unfounded.

Alcmene

Hi

I would ask about the type of laptop that your daughter would be getting. A cheap laptop may seem like a great deal at the time, but is it a good investment? Will it easily upgrade? How much usage (in terms of TIME i.e. years) can be gleaned from it. You should also ask about software as this will have to be paid for as a separate license for each machine, and duly upgraded and paid for with new updates.

Of course, the important question here should be: is there any need for a PRIMARY school to ensure each child has their very own laptop? Surely at that age, a good central resource that can be shared is good enough?

shellsuit

Why would primary aged children need a laptop?

If the school haven't got the funds, the kids can't have them, simple.

I think asking the parents to pay for them is a cheek, you may aswell buy your own and homeschool your child while you're at it.

Heliflyguy

shellsuit wrote: »

Why would primary aged children need a laptop?

I thought this as well, probably the school raising its already high profile.
I have no complaints regarding their standards of education but on the back of the school building a massive new sports hall (with 2 floors) and the subtle reminders that it will need to be equipped somehow it all smacks of if you dont pay then you are bad parents and are letting your child down.

shellsuit

Heliflyguy wrote: »

I thought this as well, probably the school raising its already high profile.
I have no complaints regarding their standards of education but on the back of the school building a massive new sports hall (with 2 floors) and the subtle reminders that it will need to be equipped somehow it all smacks of if you dont pay then you are bad parents and are letting your child down.

See, that's not fair.

Not all parents will be able to afford that money per month and not all parents will want to pay it even if they can afford it.

I can understand them getting a few laptops so the kids can use them between them, but 1 each?! That's crazy.

I am positive you won't be the only parent who feels that way ~ maybe have a chat with some other parents and see what they think about it.

Alcmene

I bet the teachers will all get one though!

devildog

Usually there is a budget to cover ICT. especially these days as it is supposed to be a thing that is used in all areas of the curriculum.
Am I right in thinking that what you are saying is that you are more or less 'hiring' the laptop for your child.
I do not know what size the school is but where I work(small school) all the teachers are provided with laptops and the school has a set of rechargeable laptops (enough for one class to use at any one time) and that was not paid for by the parnets but came out of the school budget, as well as there being a couple of pc's in each class too. After use the laptops are connected to a charging unit on a trolley and stored under lock and key for the night.
I certainly would not be wanting to pay for this, if the school needs them then they should make provision in the school budget.

Owain_Moneysaver

I bet this is going to be spending £££££ on Microsoft Software. And consultants to put it all together.

Here's one school's approach to using netbooks (which would be ideal for primary school sized hands and schoolbags) - Greater Houlton Christian Academy. (Warning, Americans and religion on the same webpage.) See also an article and here about their computer lab. And a rather old article - open source could havle school IT bills.

tomtiddly

Interesting thread, but just wanted to add to the above comment schools and college's get incredibly good deals on software from Microsoft because they want everyone to be schooled on their software then nag their employers to use MS.

(college IT tech)

glider3560

I think the school need to be looking at whether these laptops are actually needed.

I was at school during the time when computers were starting to be introduced to the classroom. When I was at primary school, we had 12 Acorn computers (anyone remember these?) shared between the lower school (years 3 & 4) and 12 Windows 95 for the upper school (years 5 & 6). That was more than enough as we did nearly everything by hand. I left primary school computer literate: I could browse the internet, send an email, write a document and make a PowerPoint (and this was 10 years ago!)

Being able to do things by hand is a great skill that I'm pleased was taught to me. Even things like division, I'd rather do by hand than use a calculator as it keeps my brain ticking!

Heliflyguy

Thanks for the replies so far, sorry havent been back here sooner.
There is an ICT budget but that is all used up apparently.

I need to find out more really as calculating on £12.00 per child per month with say a school size of 500 pupils (this is a estimate as probably closer to 600) gives a yearly a total of £72000.

I expect this would be a rental/support etc package arranged through a 3rd party partnership, there has only been 1 meeting regarding all this with 1 days notice so we were not able to make it.

I have just located the letter with the link on how this all works and I still have reservations about it all, already all homework is acessed via a web site and I would like to know how much extra time would be spent using the equipment.
I have, probably unfounded, fears of 21 year olds sufferring from back problems and RSI from spending too much time at the keyboard when younger.

http://www.e-learningfoundation.com/