Flagstaff Hill Primary School supports the belief that through digital technologies we equip students to participate in a rapidly changing world where work and leisure activities are increasingly transformed by technology. We enable students to find, explore, analyse, exchange and present information. We also focus on developing the skills necessary for students to be able to create and use information in a discriminating, effective and creative manner.

Following the review of Flagstaff Hill Primary School “bring your own device” (BYOD) policy, and having considered feedback from staff and families, the school have decided to transition from BYOD to school provided and owned devices from 2025 onwards. This change will enhance our educational environment and benefit our students. Some benefits offered by this new school-owned device model include:

• Consistent access to school programs and teaching tools without the need to add or delete applications from home.
• Safe operation, due to school-wide filtered security systems for more effective monitoring and support.
• More effective insurance options in the case devices are lost or broken while on site.
• Less need for families to contact the IT support staff for problems related to devices and out of school operation.
• Streamlined technical support and troubleshooting
• Improved classroom management and device monitoring.
• IPads safely left at school and charged daily for learning
• Equality and consistency in technology and software for all students
• Financial savings for families, and greater sustainability of resources and technology.

(For further information on these dot-points, please see the box below)

What does this mean for our students?

There will not be any changes to devices for the remainder of 2024.

Students in Year 3 and Year 4 in 2025 (current Year 2s and Year 3s) will be provided with a school owned device for use at school in 2025. This will gradually be rolled out to other year levels.

There will be no change in 2025 for students currently enrolled in Years 4 & 5.

Our Current Plan for our transition to School Provided and Owned Devices

*New students entering our school in years 3 upwards from 2025 will also be using a school provided and owned device.

After much reflection, we have settled on this roll-out plan as there are subsidies available to support us in purchasing enough devices for years 3 & Years 4 in 2025, that will not be available in the following year.

We will continue to provide detail about our planned transition to School Owned and Provided Devices and understand this will impact families; especially those who have recently bought new devices. We are aware there are other considerations and factors that need to be planned for; including accidental device damage, new students and home learning and this is something that we will endeavor to map out.

We appreciate your continued support and partnership in your child’s education. Together, we can create an enriching and empowering learning experience for all of our students. The care and responsibility all our staff have to students’ wellbeing and education in a safe environment is a high priority. We believe that the school having full control over the management and safety of the devices will increase learning and productivity and importantly reduce the financial cost to families.

We encourage you to reach out with any questions or concerns you may have during this transition period and wanted to communicate these changes with you as soon as possible, before families purchase new devices. Please send through any questions you have through this form; we will collate questions and responses and share them with the community to help keep everyone informed.

We are aware that some parents of current Year 3 students may prefer to continue to use a personal device. If this would be your preference, please let us know through this form (this is the same form as above). We are not sure what this might look like, but would like to know who would prefer this, so it can be considered in our planning.

We are excited going forward with this new policy which will benefit the Flagstaff Hill Primary School community.

Safety and Security

School-owned devices come with robust security features and content filtering, providing a safer online environment for our young learners. We value the importance of protecting our students while they explore the digital world, and our new plan will help us maximise the security and encourage responsible approach to technology use. The site tech is currently being asked by parents (who want to take their devices on holidays), to remove school restrictions on their devices (to install games and allow hidden functions) creating a lot of technical overhead for devices that are ostensibly to be used for learning.

Devices currently going home with students have access to unfiltered internet with no visibility by the school over what is being accessed. Student or parent data including photos/ videos and content is often lost when devices are wiped. In some cases, management settings also do not prevent students from accessing inappropriate content and settings on their personalised device.

Moving to school owned devices allows staff to better access devices when maintenance is required whilst not breaching Apple’s Terms of Service for the addition of personally owned devices in Apple’s School Management systems. School owned devices are also less prone to loss, theft or damage with lockable storage being bought for each class space.

Enhanced Learning Experience:

School-owned devices will ensure that all students have access to the same technology and software, creating a more equitable learning environment. This consistency will enable teachers to design curriculum and activities that fully utilise the capabilities of these devices, enriching the educational experience for every student.

Improved Classroom Management:

By standardising devices across the school, we aim to streamline technical support and troubleshooting, allowing teachers to focus more on teaching and less on device-related issues. This will contribute to smoother classroom transitions and a more efficient use of instructional time.

Students will have access to the same iPad throughout their time from year 3-6 at FHPS.

Financial Savings and Sustainability:

Transitioning to school-owned devices can potentially reduce costs for families associated with purchasing and maintaining personal devices. Families can use their own devices at home with no restrictions and there will be no devices coming back and forth between school and home which will reduce the weight in students’ bags and potential damage during transit. School owned devices will stay at school, to be used for school learning only. Families will not be required to outright purchase a device.

The cost for the iPads and I.T. infrastructure access will largely be borne by the school, with the school retaining ownership of the iPad when the student leaves the school.