Arn'we impressed

Today, with one of our governors, network manager and vle coordinator I visited Arnewood School to learn about their Laptops for Learning scheme. I would sincerely like to thank David Conford for his welcome and openess and the to staff and students we met during the day. So lets put things in context;

The Arnewood School is a popular 11-18 mixed comprehensive school of about 1200 students. It is situated in New Milton, an attractive small town, south west of the picturesque New Forest and a few minutes drive from Lymington and the south coast.

Arnewood School are in their 3rd year of their ‘laptops for learning’ scheme and here is a summary of what our reconnaise team summised on our return in preparing for a move towards a 1-2-1 mobile (delete as appropriate to your school) learning tools or laptop or netbook or notebook.

A review:

A police presence in the front of school at the start of term to reassure the parents, dissolving away.
Price point – donation vs purchase scheme. Do you have a wholeschool equitable school policy or deal with parents yourselves directly.
The network must be stable and more than cope with the new load – future planning would require further investigation as the propgram develops. Failure of the network, even minimally will impact on learning and disengage students and staff – quickly.
‘Lapland’ or ‘servicing area.’ Size, central location, security, work space / staffing. Student ID system in place for  loans – swipe bar code? Two entrance / exit.
Battery life – short life versus extended life (cost) vs 2 battery system. 18 months batteries require replacing.
Screensize – 12” Samsung with Misco £250 – decision in May/June
Manufacture training –  eg Toshiba Trained – 3 days training – permits in house
Arnewood: Network Manger, 2 techinicians, 1 customers services / laptop.
Hamble College: Network Manger, 2 techinicians, 1 customers services / laptop. Deals with claims and warranty.
Consumerables – hard drives, memory, power cables.
Lockers – unnesscessary – only for PE.
Monthly inspections and termly health checks (technicians)
Police present outside school at the start of term.
Sticking to XP move Office 2007
Exchange units – potential spare NB100s – to use low value units.
Admin rights – for students to printer and wireless.Work with Year 5/6 in primary school.
Impact on Learning
Integration of the vle and teaching in a blended format
Students reported homework

So take what you can from this visit.