BYOD
Bring Your Own Device
BYOD Drop in Sessions 2022
If students wish to bring a device to school and are in Year 3 or new to Sunnyhills in year 4, 5 or 6 they will need to attend one of these sessions with their parents. Please read the information below that outlines how to sign up.
Parent Information
In term 4 each year we hold a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) parent information evening. All year 2 parents and caregivers who are moving to Year 3 the following year are invited to come to this evening. Any other interested families including those new to Sunnyhills in year 3-6 are also welcome to attend. The time and date of the evening will be advertised early in term 4 each year.
In 2021 our information evening was virtual. We prepared a video presentation. Please view the video and read through the information below. If you have any further questions you are welcome to email Angela Lee our IT Specialist or Stephanie Trembath our Year 3 Team Leader.
Purchasing a Device
We recommend a Chromebook for students who are
bringing a device to school in year 3-6.
The make and model of the device you purchase is entirely up to you. We do not accept tablets as a BYOD.
Please see the notes below that will give you an idea of what to look for when purchasing a device.
What to look for
Light Weight
Great battery life it needs to last for a school day
Tough casing
Auto-update life of 3 years or more (details here for Chromebooks)
A minimum of 4GB of RAM
No need for a touch screen this is a personal choice
Why Chromebooks?
Easy login process for students
Chromebooks work seamlessly in the Google Environment
Cloud-based storage
Automatically complete software updates without disruption
Light-weight and great battery life
Less on-device distractions
Easy to powerwash - reset to factory settings if there is an error
Don't currently require anti-virus software
Where can I purchase?
We partner with PB Technologies for our school technology equipment requirements
PB Technologies offer our Sunnyhills community competitive pricing
It is highly recommended to purchase insurance with your device that covers breakages.
Our BYOD page within PBTech is here our current discount code is byod2021
Device Setup
Each device has a slightly different setup process depending on when and where it was purchased and what software comes pre-installed on the device. Below are some general instructions for setting up new devices. Before coming to a drop-in session you will need to:
Charge the device
Turn it on and download any updates it requires
If you choose to use Family Link on your child's Chromebook you will need to install the family link app on your phone and have access to the Gmail account and password used with Family Link. Please ensure you have this ready to prevent any delays at the drop-in session
Advice on how to set up a new device is below.
Before you bring a device to school - drop-in sessions
All year 3-6 learners who have not previously bought a device to school and wish to bring one will need to attend a drop-in session BEFORE the device is bought to school.
During these sessions learners and their families will:
Receive access to our school wifi network for student devices
Read and sign our school BYOD agreements and re-read our school citizenship agreement signed at enrolment
Receive advice on device use and monitoring at home
It is likely to take about 20 minutes to get through the process.
If you choose to use Family Link on your child's Chromebook you will need to install the family link app on your phone and have access to the Gmail account and password used with Family Link. Please ensure you have this ready to prevent any delays at the drop-in session
Current Session times:
We will limit the number of people signed up to each session to ensure we can cater to everyone within the time slot they have chosen.
Tuesday 1 February 2022
Held in the School Library
10am, 2pm sessions full
11am, 12Noon, 1pm spaces available
Thursday 10 February 2022
Held in Room 20 (Exploration Station)
9am, 3:15pm, 4pm, 5pm
Friday 11 February 2022
Held in Room 20 (Exploration Station)
8:30am, 9:30am, 2pm, 3pm
You can book a session using our sign up form >>> click here <<<
Important Documents
Why BYOD?
Future Focussed Learning
Our children are entering a world that is looking for abilities far different from the traditional. We want them to be able to collect, synthesise and analyse information and then work collaboratively with others to apply that knowledge. They need to learn how to learn and to respond to the constantly changing technologies and social and global changes in the world.
Bring Your Own Device allows students to have one-to-one time on a device that is set up to their specifications for their learning. This has many benefits, including:
• enabling students to take increasing responsibility for their own learning
• empowering students to learn at a pace and place as well as a way which suits them
• teaches students how to discern what tool will best help with their learning
• encouraging and enabling teachers to more easily implement personalised learning
• prepares students for a future where they are likely to be working in an environment with increasing amounts of technology and IT/collaborative/cloud based tools.
Digital Citizenship
As part of our learning at Sunnyhills school we help students to develop their digital citizenship. Our learning resources for this are on our SHINE Online site. Our SHINE Online site also has a parent resources page where you can find a wealth of resources to help you continue to develop citizenship at home.
Sunnyhills School is a Netsafe school. We regularly review and improve our policies, procedures and curriculum related to digital citizenship to ensure we're providing the best possible learning environment and experiences for learners both online and offline.
Google Workspace for Education and Hapara
How does Google Workspace for Education (previously, Google Suite, GAFE) work?
The Google Workspace for Education (GSuite) offers apps for email, calendar, blogs, documents, presentations and website creation as well as Google Drive, which is a way of organising all of the work done on these apps. The use of these apps is free and can be used in ‘the cloud’ - a collaborative environment where others can access and work on documents together in real time. Google Workspace allows students to access their work from school, home, the local library - anywhere with an internet connection.
What is Hapara Teacher Dashboard?
Hapara Teacher Dashboard is an interface which brings together the tools of Google Workspace in an overview style so that teachers can access, set tasks, mark and comment on work completed in Google Workspace. It gives teachers the ability to oversee an entire class of work, like they would a class set of exercise books. It also allows teachers and senior school staff the ability to oversee all the activity of any student account. This gives the ability to do a range of things, including, but not limited to: changing passwords if students forget them or suspending an account if the Student Responsibility Agreement is breached. You can read more about Teacher Dashboard here: https://hapara.com/products/g-suite/