Chrome Upgrade

What is the Chrome Upgrade?

The Chrome Education Upgrade is a piece of software installed prior to logging into a Chromebook.  It links the Chromebook to the Sunnyhills domain and applies wifi, application, security and other domain settings to the Chromebook.  The upgrade then enforces those settings every time the Chromebook is turned on.  The settings our upgrade will use include the following Monday - Friday during school hours 8:30am - 3:00pm during school terms:

• Restricting the device to a Sunnyhills account during school hours

• Restricting users to Sunnyhills approved applications

• Opening directly into the learners’ year group home page 

• Providing a set of approved bookmarks for each classroom

• Restricting/allowing appropriate google tools for each classroom

• Turning on/off appropriate accessibility settings for each classroom and user where appropriate

• Installing device updates when required

• Installing security updates when required

• The ability to monitor what the device is doing while connected to the school network

Outside of school hours and during term breaks 

the upgrade will provide the following settings:

• Ability to login as a guest

• Ability to login using consumer Google accounts

• Ability to login using school account and apply Sunnyhills settings

• Accounts that do not belong to the Sunnyhills domain will be able to download and install applications

Please note: The upgrade does not filter your internet access at home for any account that logs into the device. It also does not filter access to downloading applications on consumer accounts (@gmail.com). Each family needs to address their own Internet filtering.

The Chrome Education Upgrade will only be applied while your child is learning at Sunnyhills at the end of year 6 all upgrades will be removed automatically.  If your child leaves Sunnyhills prior to the end of year 6 you will need to request upgrade removal prior to leaving Sunnyhills at the school office.

Why are you installing the upgrade?

The Chrome Education Upgrade provides a very simple, easily managed system for all Chromebooks.  It allows us to push new applications, security measures and device updates very quickly and remotely - our technical team won’t have to have the Chromebook in front of them to apply any of these measures.  It also means we can quickly customise Chromebooks to student needs through teacher and student requests.

Any device can work really well when setup to fit the purpose they’re being used for.  During learning at home and since we’ve come back to face to face teaching and learning we’ve noticed many devices that haven’t been setup correctly.  This has meant our teaching and technical teams have spent many hours fixing devices to ensure they’re setup correctly and ready for students to use.  It also means we’ve had to try and connect with you our parents and caregivers to fix devices when we’d much rather be connecting with you about your child’s learning.  Installing this upgrade will help to alleviate some of those stresses and ensure family owned Chromebooks are ready for student use.

What if my child has an Apple or Windows device?

From the start of 2023 students who bring a device to school will only be allowed to bring a Chromebook.  If your child was already bringing a device to school in 2022 they will be able to continue to bring their Windows or Mac/Apple device until they leave Sunnyhills. 

Unfortunately, we can’t install the upgrade on these devices.  For this reason we are phasing in accepting Chromebooks as the only device students can use for BYOD.  As mentioned during our BYOD parent evenings and on our BYOD page on our school website we do recommend a Chromebook.  Windows and Apple devices are not as easy for us to manage.  Filtering of internet access and careful monitoring of what your child is doing on their device when they are at school during school hours will still occur for these devices.  The majority of the applications we use at school are available on these devices.  However, there are not the equivalent monitoring of updates, wifi and applications available to us for Apple and Windows devices within our current system.  We do strongly encourage families to consider Chromebooks instead of Apple and Windows devices. 

My child will get their older brother or sister's device when they leave Sunnyhills, what should we do?

If your child will inherit their sibling's device at the end of 2022 we will install the upgrade for them when they return to school in 2023.  From 2023 If your child is getting a Chromebook device handed down to them, from an older sibling, that is currently at Sunnyhills, the Chrome upgrade will still be on that device and likely won’t need reinstalling.  We will be sending out notices at the end of each year that will explain how to let us know a device is being passed on, this will ensure the device is ready for the next sibling.

What happens if we get a new device?

If you buy a new device or get a replacement for a broken device after the upgrade has been installed for your child’s class the upgrade will need to be installed on the new device.  Please let your child’s teacher know when the device will start coming to school and they will arrange a time for the upgrade to be installed. 

What happens if the device is repaired?

Most repairs will not affect the Chrome Upgrade.  If you’re not sure if they affected the upgrade or not please let your child’s classroom teacher know and we will check the device when it comes back to school.  

What kind of device can new students and students in year 2 bring to school?

From 2023 we will only accept Chromebooks as BYOD at Sunnyhills school.  We are going to phase this change in and will start with those who will be in year 3 in 2023.  All students who bring a Chromebook to school will need to have the Chrome Upgrade installed on it.  We will include this installation in our drop- in sessions that are held at the beginning and end of the year for year 2 learners moving to year 3 and any new learners to Sunnyhills in year 4-6.  This will be explained at our BYOD parent evening and also included on our BYOD page on our school website.  Drop-in sessions will be arranged for new students as they come into the school. 

My child can’t see any of their Minecraft worlds after the upgrade, how can they get them back?

Minecraft worlds are saved to your child’s device.  This means they will be removed during the upgrade process.  We are unable to reinstate these.  

To alleviate this problem children who are in the Minecraft team have been shown how to export their worlds to Google Drive before the upgrade and then import them back into Minecraft after the upgrade.   

If your child isn’t in the Minecraft team they have also been made aware of this issue and told to come to a Minecraft meeting to find out how to export worlds if they’re not sure how to do this.  Mrs Lee will also ask before installing the upgrade if students have exported their Minecraft worlds.