Varndean College operates a Bring Your Own Device Policy where all students are expected to bring their own device to use in lessons and for independent study.
Varndean 6th form college operates a ‘BYOD’ policy for all students attending the college. We strongly encourage you to bring your own device to College to support your learning. You should expect to use it in most of your lessons. This will vary by subject but typically you can expect to be using the internet to conduct research, complete class work and interact with subject resources in a virtual learning environment such as Google Classroom. It’s important your device’s screen and keyboard are big enough to support extended reading/writing but small enough to be portable.
Students will be able to use your Varndean College log-in details to access Google Workspace, and Adobe Full Created Cloud Enterprise Suite (if on a Media course)
Once connected, you'll be able to use your own laptop/chromebook in lessons as well as utilise our learning spaces including the Library and study cafe where there’s plenty of charging facilities and workspaces to ensure you can focus on your learning.
The College will provide devices to those students that may not have the means to provide their own where they are essential to a lesson.
Please remember to take good care of your own device. The College cannot accept liability for loss or damage. It may be advisable to add your device to your own house insurance.
Assistive technology is accessible at the college including chrome extensions and Read & Write.
What are the advantages of BYOD?
Enables flexible working
Enables continuity of education
Student familiarity with devices
Enables collaborative learning
Student productivity
Digital skills are becoming near-universal requirements for employment. The move up the career ladder from low to high skill jobs comes with increased demand for specific digital skills. Acquiring specific digital skills makes career progression as well as a pay increase more likely. In certain fields, job seekers need to develop digital skills related to specific technical tools of their chosen discipline to advance their careers'
From the 'No Longer Optional: Employer Demand for Digital Skills' report
As a Varndean College student, your log-in details provide you access to:
Google Workspace: Google Drive; Classroom; Meet; Docs; Sheets; Slides
Microsoft Office: Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher)
Adobe: Photoshop; Lightroom; Illustrator; InDesign; Premier Pro; After Effects (Media students)
Chromebook (General use for most subjects)
Price range £100 - £150
11 to 14-inch display | 4 or 8GB Memory | 32GB Storage | Chrome OS
Laptop (General use for most subjects)
Prices starting from £200
13 to 15.6-inch display | Intel Core i3 or i5 processor | 8GB Memory | 128GB Storage | Windows 11, Chrome OS
e.g. HP 250 G10 i5 , Dell Inspiron 15 Laptop i3
Laptop (High Spec)
Prices £400 and above
15-inch display | Intel Core i7 or Apple M2 processor | 8GB-16GB Memory | 256GB Storage | Windows 11
e.g. Dell Inspiron 16 Laptop i7 , HP 250 G10 i7
Specialist Subjects
Please be aware that some subjects may have different requirements for BYOD including:
Games Development; Music; Maths; Photography; 3D Design
You will need to check with your subject teacher first
Yes. These can be found in various locations around the college so easily accessible by everyone.
Independent study spaces can be found in the Library; Study Cafe Room 18 and you can use your own device in all these areas
Logging onto the college WiFi is very simple and when you join as a student you will be provided with login details
No, you can only use a laptop or computer provided by the College for external examinations.
Explore the possibility of buying an affordable device using the links provided above
We understand that not all students may have the means to purchase a suitable device. To ensure every student has equal access to learning resources, a limited number of chromebooks will be available to borrow on a termly basis with a one off refundable deposit of £50. Alternatively students will be able to borrow chromebooks on a daily basis for use in college only.
If you are in receipt of free college meals or discretionary bursary you may be eligible to access a college chromebook. More detail can be found on our website here: https://www.varndean.ac.uk/welfare-financial-information/
We have a limited amount of Chromebooks which are available to borrow for the day. It should be noted that these are limited in number. It is the students responsibility to bring their device or book one out before there first lesson of the day