Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
Sandringham School operates a Bring Your Own Device programme where all students from Year’s 7 – 13 are required to have a device in school for use in lessons and at home.
We always seek to innovate in the classroom, ensuring students benefit from a wide variety of teaching styles and learning experiences. Our teachers are a professional and highly dedicated learning community who are committed to engaging, supporting, stretching and challenging students to achieve in all aspects of life. We take a blended learning approach that takes traditional methods and skilfully combines them with modern evidence-informed approaches including the highly sophisticated use of technology. Since 2014 the school has operated a Bring Your Own Device programme where students are required to bring a fully charged device with them to school each day. Over the years we have made changes to our programme to make the most appropriate use of the latest technologies. For students joining the school in September 2022, we are making a considerable step change to our BYOD programme. When reviewing the information below, please ensure you are looking at the correct section related to the year group your child is in.
Year group specific BYOD information
From September 2022 the Alban Academies Trust will be launching a common programme across all secondary schools for students joining in year 7. The programme will require all students to have their own Chromebook.
So why are we making this change? Since the launch of the original programme in 2014, technologies have developed and so have the ways in which teachers and students make use of devices to support learning. The latest generation of Chromebooks allow us to maintain the functionality of a tablet-style device, whilst also providing the capability to use technology to support the more demanding aspects of our curriculum, including the completion of extended writing tasks and more complex research activities.
There are two options for parents/carers when deciding how to equip your child with a suitable Chromebook ready for September 2022. Firstly, our trust wide recommendation is to purchase our custom-specification device through our reseller, Academia. Academia have created a school specific portal where you can purchase the device bundle through a single payment or set up a finance agreement with a third party.
Please visit https://sandringham.store.academia.co.uk/ to visit our school’s dedicated store.
Alternatively, you can purchase a Chromebook device from a retailer of your choice, however, the device must meet the specific requirements of our custom-specification device.
Whilst we encourage families to purchase the custom specification device designed by the school, you can source an alternative device for your child if you so wish.
It is important to note that it must fulfil the following minimum standards required for the device to be suitable. These are:
- Minimum screen size of 11”
- Minimum storage capacity of 32GB
- Touch screen
- Forward and rear facing camera which can capture still images and video
- Includes a stylus
For more information, please download our parent/carer guide HERE.
Further Information & FAQ’s
Support and funding available
We are fully committed to removing any challenges or barriers to students accessing learning. For students who are currently in receipt of Free School Meals or have received Free School Meals at any point in the past six years, we are able to use Pupil Premium funding to support our loan device scheme. This scheme enables the school to issue a fully insured device to your child with only a small financial contribution from parents/carers.
For further information or to acquire a device through this scheme, please contact Louise Turner, Pupil Premium Coordinator by emailing admin@sandringham.herts.sch.uk.
Protecting your child’s device
It is important that your child’s device is appropriately protected. It should be noted that the loss, damage or breakage of a personal device is not covered under school insurance. The school is unable to pay for the cost of repairs or replacements. As such, we highly recommend that devices are covered by an appropriate insurance policy. It is worth checking whether gadget insurance, which can often be added to home insurance or bank accounts, may offer cover for this device.
Students are encouraged to store their devices in lockers, particularly during lunchtimes or times when their bag is unattended during lunchtimes or times when their bag is unattended.
My child already has an internet connected phone – why can’t they just use that?
A ‘smartphone’ is not a suitable learning device. Screen sizes are too small to be able to access eBooks, conduct research and write presentations or essays. It is a fallacy promoted by IT vendors that one device can satisfy every possible educational use. You wouldn’t use a laptop to film in drama, likewise you probably wouldn’t type an extended piece of writing on a tablet device. 
- Low duration/complexity: web research, photo or video capture, blogging/tweeting, scanning QR codes, reading eBooks, quizzes, surveys etc.
- Longer duration/complexity: word processing, programming, movie editing etc.
Furthermore, we require access to the Internet to be filtered and therefore require devices with 4G/5G connections to be switched off for the safety of our students and staff throughout the school day.
What evidence is there to support 1:1 device use in schools?
We are following the DFE national strategy and using the latest EEF research in making our decision. These show a net learning gain and also an improvement in collaboration, feedback and metacognition for students with access to a 1:1 device.
We have in place a continued programme of professional development and training to support the roll out of these new devices for students, teachers and for parents based on the latest research.
If you need further guidance, information or support, please address questions to Mark Allday, Assistant Headteacher with responsibility for eLearning and the school BYOD programme via admin@sandringham.herts.sch.uk.
