General Chat

How good to hear of somebody having a forty minute walk to school.

For most it seems to be a five minute ride in a car with hardly anybody cycling.

I can remember having to find the money for a slide-rule when I was at school and that was hard enough.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255546/School-spent-500-000-giving-pupils-iPads-admits-HALF-broken.html

Half of the 1200 Ipads supplied to the school are now broken...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ to Kay . sorry im late back lol . i would rather watch paint dry than spend time on here lololo ~~~~~~~~~~~ to all
xx

Best answer: Chromebook $99 for education
http://betanews.com/2012/12/10/google-slashes-chromebook-price-to-99-for-public-educators/

State funded schools should never require that parents fund any particular item of equipment based on the brand. In the UK and prob. Australia it is illegal under the rules of public sector procurement.

Any school sponsoring a finance scheme for the purchase of such devices would also be in further hot water. Unfortunately there have been far too many cases of well meaning but technically and financially not-at-all-savvy heads and governors who have signed up to expensive IT schemes leaving years of debt and no benefit to the children. The iPad scam is just the latest of many.

In any case how a device which does even have a keyboard can have educational merit is questionable. Special needs is of course another matter.

A far better buy would be some Raspberries and how to build stuff with them.

Unfortunately practically all junior teachers and most senior level are mathematically incompetent and more than challenged when it comes to IT. Most of the country is in the same boat right up the Cabinet so I guess it is par for the cause.

Sorry for the kids though, they deserve better.

I agree Sue, I have read of many students with autism also benefiting greatly from having an ipad for various reasons.


My 13 and 14 year old grandchildren are both have them through a scheme whereby the school buys them and then the parents pay a monthly fee.

The daft thing is, although it was on the school's advice because it would help with studies etc., they are rarely used in school. When my son queried this, he was told that some of the teachers didn't make full use of them.... :-S :-S :-S :-S :-S


I think ipads are brilliant and would love one - but not at the price they are... :-D

IF a school insists it's children have i-pads at school, they should either do what Rose's daughter's school does, or buy in bulk from a reputable firm at a reducton (definitely not a cold caller or travelling salesman), loan to those unwilling to buy,or sell at the (reduced) price they paid.
Academies are apparently funded by businesses - there must be one or more in the country funded by a computer company who could sell to all Academies.

I saw the programme about that scam, one school ended up paying about a quarter of a million pound for one photocopier that should have only cost £1700

Roy

I remember seeing a doc about that Maggie...found this bit particularly interesting from your link.......

As well as facing crippling bills, the accountant also said schools were being overcharged. "For example, a laptop that has a price of between £350 and £400 is charged at £3,750," an accountant told the BBC. "Some schools were having 100-200 laptops delivered at this price."

In a statement, the Department for Education blamed the issue on "very poor decision making from schools and opportunistic/predatory sales tactics from suppliers".

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~~~~waves~~~~~ to Rose x

Rosie,,,,,,,,sweet,,~~~~~~~~~~~~~

how are you girl ........lovely to see your name. <3

My Daughter has one as do the whole school , but all we had to pay was £24.oo for the year for insurance and maintenance. She also brings it home .. I think its fab but no way would i pay to buy one :o)
Rosex

Interesting report from July:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/372076/poor-it-deals-could-cost-schools-millions

My grand-daughter who is 6 has an iPad at school. She has Downs' Syndrome and the school provided it to help work with her together with her speech therapist. The school has paid for the applications. Of course this is an entirely different situation - just pointing out that there are a lot of students with special needs that would greatly benefit from these.

I put up a thread a week or two ago...whatever next....about my son in Oz having to buy an iPad for daughter starting secondary school at the end of Jan as that is the start of the school year there.
I can see that technology has advanced,but like others it is an expensive thing for a youngster to carry around . Are they old enough to take responsibility?
How can parents afford these tablets?
I love mine...but I do look after my things...but 12 year olds?

iPads and cats can be a poor choice for young girls
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p96ft

Thank you DET lol.

Page 51 Muffy.

I had 2 in senior school twice at one time and I wouldnt of been able to afford £600.00 then or now.

I totally agree with you Mildred...although my daughters school is a town school..there are a huge amount that attend from neighbouring rural villages who cycle in from vast distances. It's not such a worry for us as daughter gets a lift or an accompanied walk home but I'd worry about others who travel much further.

Also it was only last year that she dropped her mobile down the loo and that was bad enough £300 down the toilet would cause untold stress to all of us !!! However...

If I've read it correctly it appears that part of the cost of the ipad includes insurance and maintenance...I've been trying to find where I read that but can't lol so I could be wrong ! x

I'm not against their use in school (if the school provides them & keep them there),

Mainly for me its the parents being asked to fork out for one, bearing the cost (via payment scheme or not) The added insurance when first year warranty runs out (imagine the repair cost when things do go wrong with such items, faults or accidental damage from dropping or bags bashed in busy corridors)

But the real big issue is taking it to & from school. My daughter has a 40 min walk starting at 7:45am. - We live in Essex - need I say more??

Kids get mugged for their phones/money, its not common but it has happened a couple of times in recent years enroute to school or on the way home.

I would be afraid if it was my school, once it becomes common knowledge that kids have IPads on them, kids would be targeted putting them at further risk of mugging etc. And as not all kids are lucky to get a regular lift to school & back, you could be talking about rich pickings for the scum who just take & think nothing of whom they hurt in the process. Many kids leave later to come home as they are in after school clubs. Its dark by 4pm, and for some it means a walk past a park with entrances along the route, and through an underpass. Prime areas where bags can be snatched & the culprit can be out of sight quickly.

Just did a bit of googling about the people who compiled that report and it's hardly an independent one lol. Whilst googling I found this.....


“The iPad as a Tool for Education” is written in the style of an academic report and the first section provides a welcome sift through the limited research on this technology along with existing insights into mobile technology for learning to set a helpful context. It finds other reports that chime with its own findings, However, its handling of rival Android tablets could have been tempered by rather more academic objectivity.

For example, evidence ought to be produced to justify a statement like “There is now strong evidence that devices such as the iPad2 (and indeed the iPad in particular rather than Android tablets) are valuable educational tools.” And quoting Fraser Speirs’ views on Android without pointing out the partisan nature of this source (ie an Apple evangelist) is disingenuous.

Of course, a report into the use of iPads in a secondary school doesn’t have to refer to other digital pads but, if it does, objectivity is essential. Those with long memories remember “You don’t get sacked for buying IBM,” and the effect that had in education – the effective and unfair exclusion of Apple and the failure of most government advisers and organisations to stand up for schools that wanted to exercise a free choice.