School iPad scheme

LisaNight

I can only find older threads regarding this - my youngest child’s school has just changed to an XP school and we are being strongly encouraged to buy an iPad through their school scheme - seems out of touch with current financial constraints ( redundancies) and surely kids have spent enough time on devices ? But just seeing if anyone has had a good experience? 

maman

I had to google to find what an XP school was but it seems it's an academy trust that uses an American model of hitech education. 

Academy schools are still state schools although they have more freedom as they aren't attached to the local authority. What they can't do is make any compulsory charges to parents other than for a prescribed school uniform and meals. 

You say 'strongly encouraged' through their school scheme. It could be that if you were planning to buy an iPad/tablet for your child then their scheme could save you money compared with going direct to Apple. I think all schools nowadays use devices of some sort both in lessons and for homework (as most of us do in the world outside schools)  but if you really can't afford one then the school can't make you buy one. They will provide some but won't have the funding for one per child (which the government was  promising during the pandemic). From a teacher's and pupil's point of view it's easier if every child has one (just as it was years ago when we had to share text books) but it's not something schools can afford. 

maman

I thought a bit more about charging and, like any school, they can offer things to parents like after school activities or breakfast clubs but they are voluntary things not compulsory as part of the curriculum. 

Bluebell1000

maman said:

They will provide some but won't have the funding for one per child (which the government was  promising during the pandemic). From a teacher's and pupil's point of view it's easier if every child has one (just as it was years ago when we had to share text books) but it's not something schools can afford. 

I had never heard of an XP school before, but my sons primary school issues all students with a free iPad when they start year 3, which they use in classes. So it is possible... and it's a fairly large school (approx 300 pupils across years 3-6). They've been doing this pre-pandemic so it's not a new thing, but did prove very useful when the school was closed!

maman

That's amazing bluebell. I don't know how they afford that but good for them as I think it's essential to teach children to use technology .

 On average schools I think get about £3.5K per child per year and that has to cover everything including all staffing, utility bills, cleaning, teaching resources, staff training, buying in professional services like HR, payroll etc. 

Naomim

My son was at an academy school and dd is about to start. They decided against offering iPads & tablets to student stating they hadn't seen any evidence it improved education. 

Bluebell1000

maman said:

That's amazing bluebell. I don't know how they afford that but good for them as I think it's essential to teach children to use technology .

 On average schools I think get about £3.5K per child per year and that has to cover everything including all staffing, utility bills, cleaning, teaching resources, staff training, buying in professional services like HR, payroll etc. 

Wow, that really isn't much to cover everything!
My boys school is an academy but I'm not sure how much difference that makes to funding. 

sew_what

My daughter' school is an ipad school - the scheme works well and it means every child has the same resources, but her's was very slow and out of date by the time she got to Year 11; we bought her a replacement faster machine for at home.  It did mean they could move to online learning pretty easily when lockdown happened!

Spendless

What's the ts & cs of usage? Just I saw a post elsewhere on the internet about their child's school wanting them to buy via them too and one of the rules were, there were only allowed to be on certain  school approved websites until 5pm Monday - Friday (can't remember what it said about school hols) . For one of mine that would be several hours after school had closed for the day and as she was involved in several extra curricular activities that ran from around this time would have made it pretty much useless as 'hers' to use inbetween these times. 

sevenhills

maman said:

 On average schools I think get about £3.5K per child per year and that has to cover everything including all staffing, utility bills, cleaning, teaching resources, staff training, buying in professional services like HR, payroll etc. 

Schools in England get £5,101 funding per child, they probably get other chunks of funding too, certainly different funding for school buildings.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/school-funding-2021-22-find-constituency-and-school-level-allocations/

maman

sevenhills said:

maman said:

 On average schools I think get about £3.5K per child per year and that has to cover everything including all staffing, utility bills, cleaning, teaching resources, staff training, buying in professional services like HR, payroll etc. 

Schools in England get £5,101 funding per child, they probably get other chunks of funding too, certainly different funding for school buildings.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/school-funding-2021-22-find-constituency-and-school-level-allocations/

I think that £5K figure is  for secondary, whereas OP's child was in a primary school.

Primary funding  has risen since April to £4 000 per child but that's an average and depends where you live.  You're right, the capital spending on buildings (like new classrooms or major expenditure on a new  roof or windows) is a separate budget but isn't used for day to day repairs, utility bills, cleaning, grounds maintenance  etc. Schools generally have to save that up over a number of years to afford a large project. 

'Other chunks' do appear from time to time but they are at government whim and can't be guaranteed. For example, the Catch Up Premium to help with missed learning during Covid is about £16 000 for a Primary school of 200 pupils for the year. That would pay for perhaps one full time  teaching assistant or a newly qualified teacher for 3 days a week shared across the whole school.