An overview of the 1:1 Laptop Program... 

• St Mary’s College is introducing a school owned, student managed laptop program in 2010.
• Students will have access to their own laptop 24/7; at school, home and during holidays.
• Students in Year 8 will be issued with a laptop to use for the year. This will be returned at the end of the year to re-issue to the new Year 8 cohort in the following year. The laptops will have a life span of four years.
• Students in Year 9 will be issued with a laptop to use for the next four years at St Mary’s College. If they graduate from Year 12, the girls will have the option to take the laptops with them.
• If a student leaves the College prior to the end of Year 12, they will be expected to return the laptop.
• The Federal Government has indicated that devices purchased with funds must remain in the College for the full four years. This means students in Year 9 will automatically be able to take their laptop with them when their finish Year 12. However, Year 10 laptops will only be three years old and this will not automatically apply to them.
• The funding from the Federal Government will cover the purchase of laptops assigned to Year 9 and some of the Year 10. As a majority of the Year 10 devices will be purchased by the College using our own funds, it will be possible for us to engage in an arrangement with these students at the end of Year 12 to pay a residual in order to take their laptop with them.
• An increased Technology Levy will be required (from 2011) to cover the cost of this program. However, it must be clear that the levy will be charged to upgrade current technology within the College and the inclusion of Year 8 in our laptop program, and not the cost of the laptops purchased using the Federal Government funding. However, as a College, the cost will be equally shared across all members of our community from Years 8-12 and will be a per student levy from 2011, and not per family.
• Students will be issued with a hard case, to be used at all times when carrying the laptop around the College grounds and in particular, in the bags to and from school. Laptops not in use must be secured in lockers.
• A Service Centre will be established as part of the operation of the Resource Centre.
• Students will be responsible for charging their laptops ready for use each day. So as not to impede learning, students will be able to borrow, on occasions, chargers from the Resource Centre. Frequent users will be referred to the Reflection Room, to reflect on their inability to prepare thoroughly for class.

 

Laptops will be issued to Year 8-10 in 2010. Details about the deployment of these laptops are given below...

 

The College will purchase laptops for Year 9 and some Year 10 using the Federal Funding. The current Technology Levy will be used to purchase laptops for the Year 8 and remaining Year 10 students. The current computer laboratories will be maintained for use by our Year 11 and 12 students.

 

By 2012, all students in the College will be operating with their own laptop device. The technology levy will be charged per student and as noted above, parents can anticipate an increase in this levy to support the upgrade of our current facilities and resources.

 

Year 10 will be issued with their laptops at the start of Term Two. Years 8 and 9 will be deployed at the start of Semester Two. The provision of the laptops will require parents, students and the College to enter into an agreement and a handbook of policies to assist with communicating expectations related to the use of these devices are being developed and will be published in the future on the website for your information.

 

Each deployment will require parents to attend an information evening with their daughter to enable us to discuss these expectations and to enter into this agreement. We look forward to working with parents and their daughters as we engage in this exciting new phase in the delivery of learning and teaching.

 

 

About the Laptop... 

The Laptop elected to be purchased is the...

Dell Latitude E4500D laptop (Core2 Duo P8700 processor; 2GB RAM; 250GB Sata(7200RPM); 14.1" WXGA (1280x800; discrete NVIDEA video card; 9 cell battery; webcam; 8xDVD +/-RW; 1Gb Lan; WIFI, Intel 5300; Bluetooth and 90W power adapter) 

Included in the packaged purchased with Dell, is a Professional Support for End User. This provides a 24/7 access to a service center which assumes the user is not computer literate and provides next day guarantee (at home or at school).

 

 

 St Mary’s College recognises the financial and other support received from the Commonwealth through the National Secondary Schools Computer Fund (NSSCF).

 

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