NexusOne - Our iPads for all programme

We live in an increasingly digital world – at work, at home and beyond. The Nexus one Programme will prepare students for the digital world of work as it is now, and give them the skills to adapt to what it will become. 

Digital technology affords opportunities for continuity of learning from the classroom to beyond, allowing developments in teaching underpinning this. It enables users to adapt to their individual needs with our support, different modes of feedback and assessment, drawing upon wider multimedia resources and maximising the opportunities of AI safely.  

Work produced on the iPad is stored in the Microsoft M365 and Apple iCloud suites adds the same layer of security as workplaces, with digital documents less prone to loss and damage, which can be worked on collaboratively in a safe space. If an Ipad is lost or damaged the work is still accessible from the cloud. 

Digital training and examinations are increasingly used in the workplace for professional qualifications – Nexus One will give students the best footing to be prepared for this – Digital educational examinations are in the pipeline for School, College and University students. 

Nexus one also supports our ability to support learners to be competent and safe consumers of digital content – this is the first of the educational revolutions where the students have access to technologies before parents and educators can teach them how to use it responsibly. 

Parents/Guardians are asked to make a financial contribution to the scheme. This differs for each year of payment and year group and is outlined in the letter received. 

iPads belong to the school and will be leased to students for their whole seven (or five) years at the school. The iPad will be returned to the school when the student leaves. 

Parents of Students in receipt of Free School Meals, Pupil Premium funding or have an EHCP will be asked for a contribution reduced by 50% 

Students in Year 9 and above still have use of the laptops purchased through the former laptop scheme, PCs and Laptops across the school and Macs and iPads in specialist areas such as Art and the Performing Arts. Their work is stored in the Microsoft M365 suite as it is now, and will be for iPad users – the device used to access the work is independent of the work itself. These students are preparing for public examinations and changing their standard way of working now may be counter productive. As Year 7 and 8 students move up the school their standard way of working as they near public examinations will be through an iPad. 

Sixth form students will continue to be able to bring their own devices to access their work through the Microsoft M365 suite. 

In the event of accidental damage the school will repair the iPad, in the first instance, as part of the lease. A small stock of spare iPads will be kept so your child does not have to wait for the repair.This loan pool can also be used if for any other reason a child's iPad is not available. 

If the damage is malicious or deliberate there will need to be an individual assessment and discussion with the parents/carers. 

If an iPad is repeatedly damaged then we may need to charge parents/carers. Experience in other schools is that this is very rare. 

Absolutely! This supports continuity of learning from the classroom to beyond the classroom, to support continued learning, homework and revision.  

iPads are part of the expected equipment for Year 7 and 8 along with pens and pencils for students to take responsibility for. They will need to charge it overnight and ensure it is remembered and fully charged for the next day at school. 

An iPad supports our learning community ethos – students will be able to readily share their classwork and homework with their parents and guardians. 

We advise that iPads (and for that matter phones) are charged away from the bedroom at night to ensure students get a good night's sleep without any distractions in the bedroom. 

Yes. The school will control the apps students use. They must remain logged in to their School account on the iPad.In school they will use the smae filtered connection as the PCs, Laptops and Macs so will not be able access inapropraite sites and seraches made and websites visited are logged through Fortinet. 

Apple classroom enables Class teachers to monitor and support learning with iPads in the classroom. 

In the same way that families are responsible for children's online safety on devices they use such as phones, tablets, consoles and computers, this applies to the use of the iPad beyond the School. Do please review and enable the filtering your fixed or mobile providers offer to help keep your child safe. 

As a watch - to be on time; as a timetable - so they know what lesson is next; as a diary - so they do not forget a club or a meeting. 

A device to access their work in a safe organised way, and to share it with teachers and peers for collaborative working. 

For writing essays, long answers, short answers, pop quizzes, quick notes, revision notes, recipes, keywords and reports. 

For drawing graphs, tables, diagrams, equipment lists, making plans, feedback sheets, coaching guides, musical scores and storyboards. 

As a research tool, dictionary, encyclopaedia, translation tool, calculator, simulator, and a safe way to access and use Artificial Intelligence (AI). 

As a notebook, post-it-note, a moodboard, an artist's pad, a photo library, a scrapbook and a place for voice notes and thoughts. 

As a reading book for DEAR, a careers magazine, a brochure for a university, a college application form, a careers library and an almost infinite library full of stories and world literature. 

As a tool for revision, study, examinations, completing past papers, and getting feedback from teachers. 

As a communicator, via email and through safe, school-provided apps, to collaborate with teachers and peers in this school and across the trust. 

As a sound recorder, camera, video recorder and editor for recording work, projects, portfolios, made outcomes and homework. 

There is also a helpful guide here from Apple. 

Handwriting remains an important skill and is still the way of public examinations at the moment. The iPad will in fact be able to help with handwriting improvement apps which we can use with students to improve their neatness and speed. 

However, typing will also become important and the iPad will help develop those skills too. 

There will never be a time when an iPad is the same as applying acrylic gouache to canvas or an iPad can replace throwing a rugby ball into a line out, or an iPad replicate the mouth embouchure of playing the flute 

In each of these examples the iPad can support - a practice sketch book, mood board and artist research tool for the first; a skills guide, coaching video recorder and ball speed/spin recorder for the second; a score, metronome, sound recorder, tuner and audience sharing platform for the third. 

In order to safeguard children we need to centrally control the apps and internet connection they use – this can be done effectively when all students use the same device. Using iPads for all students in a class, and eventually the school, enables equity of access, consistency of effective educational use supporting all students to succeed by supporting their individual needs. It also brings the cost down for all participants in the scheme. We are part of a trust who are experts and leaders in the educational field in the use of iPads in schools. 

Each lesson is an hour and children take breaks between lessons as they move classrooms, as well as break and lunch, so the risk of impact of screentime is minimal. The iPads have controls to adjust the screen and track screen time. 

Students will be able to interact with the iPads using the on-screen keyboard, stylus or Bluetooth keyboard. Students with particular needs will be issued with a keyboard. Styluses and Keyboards can be purchased from the school shop. If you do buy a keyboard case please ensure it is as robust as the cases supplied by the school. 

The iPad and M365 accessibility features can support all learners especially those with particular needs supporting equity of opportunity. The features such as such as magnifiers, voice to text and speech readers can support students with their learning needs such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia visual and hearing impairments as well as organisational and processing difficulties. 

No, as those apps allow communication anonymously with strangers and are not suitable for children. 

No, whilst these are fine for supervised use, they do contain chat functions and some spaces are used by ill-intentioned adults for illegal or immoral purposes. 

Yes if the device is on the school site and connected to our wifi. 

Staff at Longdean are lifelong learners, and they will be on the learning journey using iPads in lessons – each subject area will use them in different ways for different students who are typically fast adopters of technology. 

Where students need access to audio and video on an individual basis subjects such as MFL will have adapters and headphones to use. 

The iPads will have educational restrictions placed on them that limit their integration with apple devices outside of school. 

A fully charged iPad will last a full school day into the evening. Battery performance for devices tails off over time, but the iPad has been chosen as after seven years of use it is designed to hold a charge for a full school day. Software updates will happen automatically and remotely. Apple guarantee to support the device for more than the seven year lifespan, as they do with their iPhones. 

Once the school have been using iPads for a while, feedback will be sought from Parents, Students and Staff to shape how we develop our use of iPads and all learning technologies.