To refuse to sign form for DD to have a school iPad?

I know what you mean, we only ever gave ours refurbished or passed down iPads due to fear of it breaking, I wouldn’t be impressed if I HAD to accept liability for a newer one. Is it an option to get a cheap one of your own?

It is annoying. We don’t have iPads but the class was asked who had one which made dd feel left out. Ik it’s a small thing but constant pushing tech makes it harder to opt out.

My eldest got ICT support for his exams so very little handwriting.

I had an "ohh I'm getting old" moment the other day. I was in the gym and thought the clock had stopped, so I flagged it to a staff member. I wasn't wearing a watch but I was confident it wasn't quarter to four. I phrased it as "I don't think it can be quarter to four, can it?" And the lady I was speaking to then explained she couldn't actually tell the time on a non digital clock.

I'm only in my early thirties so I wasn't expecting to be feeling out of touch so soon!

If an English state school, that was illegal.

I invest far more than that in my kids education. But I don’t do so by choosing to give an accident prone 8 year old expensive tech they have to cart around the place, because that’s liable to be far more than £500 and I think there are better ways to do it.

The point is, assuming this is a state school, they need to be delivering within their budget. They can’t just make the parents pay because it has turned out to be more expensive than they’d hoped. We have education that is legally required to be provided free at the point of delivery.

If a private school then it’s a more complex question of what the expectations were when the child was signed up.

My DD went to a state school, and yes they required the lease of an iPad. It just made more sense financially and control wise for me to buy her one instead of leasing one from the school.

Ok, so if you don’t want to invest £500 into your child’s education you do you. I’m sure their football club is a much better investment.

Most aren’t these days at the Uni level or for professional qualifications.
Schoold should be preparing students for real life exams, and not be stuck in the past.

Is this a serious question???? 🤯

I mean with a screen protector and case it should be fine and I’m sure at 8 you could designate a place for it to go and make sure she knows to always place it there when homework is done. Guessing this is private school, state schools certainly don’t have iPad money…

Yes, we know what the school want the kids to do with them. That doesn’t mean OP has to take on financial responsibility. Just as she doesn’t take on financial responsibility for accidental loss for any other aspect of the school’s resourcing or facilities.

I despair. Why are we paying taxes for such mindless destruction.

Aren’t exams handwritten?

My kids academy trust rolled out iPads for all children 2 or 3 years ago. I can barely get either of them to look at them at home!

Handwriting is an obsolete skill imho. Just like being able to tell time on an analog clock.

She will need the iPad to do school work. They likely will have all their textbooks on it to read along in class. Homework will be done on it and submitted via it.

I bought my DD her own iPad and paid for the AppleCare insurance so I didn’t have to worry about loss or damage. I also got her iCloud+ so all her work is backed up and it’s easy to restore with a new iPad if the first one gets broken.

I wouldn’t sign. Eldest’s school did a scheme with iPads and a monthly low cost repayment plan. We parents were all told they were necessary and would be an integral part of each lesson. Eldest’s school bag was on the floor with the iPad in as it wasn’t needed during that lesson. The kids were instructed to swap seats during the lesson and somehow another child managed put their chair leg and full body weight down in the bag and impaled the iPad. We claimed off insurance that came with it but I was still annoyed

Sure is. I remember when my eldest DS said he got Air Drops of random stuff during class time from other pupils. Often graphic stuff.

Pupils can and do find ways around these restrictions!

You’re very naive if you believe this. There are a thousand stories of children circumventing school device controls.

They are usually restricted so they can only be used for school work which is far safer than having a free reign online they will have school licenced apps which you won't be able to use on a home computer. Tis the modern world

Has anyone done a cost-benefit analysis of this? The list of negatives is massive: cost; distraction; negative effects on the brain and body; lack of handwriting skills; effect on eyesight; the faff of charging, maintaining and looking after the devices.

What are the huge positives that make all of that worth it?

I agree. My DH had a stroke 4 days ago and one of his doctors explained how hand writing is encouraged because it is so good for the brain.

No books?!!! That is shocking and depressing :(

I don't see why 8 year olds should have expensive equipment to routinely worry about. It might not be out of their capacity but most things probably aren't if you apply enough pressure. Why heap that kind of extra burden on them so young?

Caring for a screen isn't top of my list of this to teach my kid