Personal Computers

Private Property

All private property brought to school must be marked and insured by parents. (See also Bursarial Matters page 49). Private electrical heaters, mini-fridges, plug-in air diffusers and fairy lights are not allowed in the boarding houses. Private property is required to be removed from most boarding houses at the end of each term and it is best if possessions are kept to a minimum.

Electrical Equipment

We are required by the Electricity at Work Regulations to test all portable electrical appliances that do not comply with European manufacturing standards, including those brought to school by pupils. Any equipment that fails the test will be removed from the pupil who owns it. The responsibility for repairing and re-testing then reverts to the pupil and his/her parents.

The College enables access from all pupils’ studies/study areas in Houses to the College’s computer network. This access allows pupils to connect computer equipment (described below) to the College’s systems, enabling access to the Internet and network storage areas. There is also an extensive Wi-Fi network covering academic areas and boarding houses.

The College recognises that most academic activities are substantially enhanced by access to the Internet and the online resources provided by the College. The ability to store, retrieve and share work can increase the efficiency of the process. Increasingly, teachers present their subjects in a style that makes use of electronic communication methods.

Your son/daughter will thus need to have a laptop computer.

Equipment

The College is committed to ensuring that pupils have access to the most up-to-date and educationally beneficial technologies. The school provides a significant number of computers both in boarding houses and in ICT areas. Over the past few years, the College has invested significant sums in devices running the Apple operating system. To take full advantage of the benefits of 1:1 computing technology, it is suggested that pupils arrive at the College with a laptop, which should be an Apple device: a 13” Mac Book Air will perfectly suffice. The College licenses Microsoft Office 365, which entitles pupils to install the latest version of Office on their personal devices and use the Cloud versions of these applications. Upon leaving, the license to use this software becomes invalid.

While iPads are welcomed they are not regarded as a replacement for a laptop, since not all of the software that is currently used in College is available for the iPad. If pupils wish to bring an iPad in addition to a laptop, this is perfectly acceptable.

Along with the laptop we strongly recommend:

• A sturdy rucksack or good protective cover; • AppleCare extended three-year warranty.

Please note that accidental damage, loss or failure due to misuse are not covered by the AppleCare warranty; they should be covered on your home contents or a separate insurance policy.

You are free to purchase your Apple laptop from your preferred supplier. Alternatively, there is an educational discount available via an authorised Apple retailer. Details of these arrangements are available separately in the joining instructions.

ICT Support

Pupils may take their laptops to the IT Support Department for an initial diagnosis and typically something that takes a few minutes to resolve will be addressed there and then. Anything beyond a few minutes will be booked in and, if time and workload permit, a technician will try to rectify problems they can diagnose that do not require the College to replace components or in anyway invalidate the manufacturer’s warranty. Such work is undertaken free of charge and the College will not, nor should be expected to, provide fixed timescales for these repairs. However, a few simple steps (mostly arranged or provided at the time of purchase) can help to ensure that your child’s machine has maximum availability:

a) Details of the warranty terms, supplier contact number and procedure available to your child; b) Original, licensed media, if appropriate available for the reinstallation of the operating system; c) Only genuine, licensed software installed; d) Anti-virus protection installed.

These latter four items are recommended if the College is to be able to properly support your child and their computer.

Code of Conduct

All pupil users of the College’s ICT facilities are bound by a Pupil Code of Conduct and the current Information and Computing Technology (ICT) Policy as published. A copy can be found in the PARENTS area of the College website. 20