BYOD @ Westburn School

Year 5 - 8 students at Westburn School are recommended to bring a BYOD device to school for their independent use to support learning.

A Natural Progression

Westburn School transitioned to a BYOD school in 2016, after a very successful piloted programme of Google Apps for Education in Years 7 & 8. Students overwhelmingly indicated that they found this highly beneficial for their learning and, in particular, for their writing. They valued the ability to collaborate with peers and the opportunity to gain high quality and timely feedback from their teacher.

In 2016/2017 Team 3 Years 5 & 6 teachers undertook professional development in how to use devices for learning in a transformative way, rather than simply replacing a pencil/pen with a device.

In 2018 BYOD was extended to include Years 5 & 6 classes. We have no intention of taking BYOD to lower year levels. As always, we will continue to provide some school-owned devices for students to use if they don’t bring their own device to school.

Nowadays, we are reducing the amount of stationery that children use in the classroom as students are expected to use devices for the core of their learning programme.

During the COVID-19 Lockdown

Students that owned a BYOD device were more equipped and ready to transition to learning at home with 1:1 devices.

Consultation with technology retailers

Annually we meet with The Warehouse Group's (formally known as the Noel Leeming group) educational specialists to identify several devices suitable for parents to purchase for their child. We look for a variety of devices (from entry level to more fully equipped) that are compatible with the specifications that we require as a school and then recommend these to Westburn families. Information about the devices recommended for 2022 are available on our school website.

What if my child won't be able to bring a device to school?

Years 5-8 classrooms currently have a range of devices that are suitable for students to use. While we try to share devices equally, most of these students share devices and cannot have

Over the subsequent years, the Board of Trustees has significantly invested in our ICT infrastructure:

• We underwent a cabled network upgrade (SNUP upgrade) which provided wireless coverage through the school.

• We have Ultra Fast Broadband provided free through our Network for Learning (N4L) connection.

• We have received more than 60 new devices (iPads and Laptops) for classroom learning, at a cost of more than $50,000.

• We have Linewize (formally known as FamilyZone) and Classwize (formally known as Family Zone Classroom) in place as an internet filter and to more carefully manage the access students have on their devices in class.