6th form do you need a laptop, tablet etc for work?

[GizmoIsSoFluffy]

DD will be 16 in July and hopefully off to 6th form in sept to do maths, chem and geog.

She wants to save up for a laptop or tablet/keyboard combo. If it would be useful we are thinking of surprising her with one of them for her birthday. She has never asked for anythig expensive in her life and us working so hard for her gcse's.

Do you think either would be useful for her studies. She's hoping to go to uni afterwards if that helps.

Thanks for any advice.

absolutely 100%. I'd go with a laptop. At least 8gb so it can cope with MS Teams which many institutions use now - or contact the college she is going to and ask what they recommend. Look at reconditioned ones from somewhere like CEX if you are pushed for cash but really at that stage of education and certainly at university there WILL be requirements to research online, access timetable or notices from teachers, submit work online etc.

Yes, helpful especially if there's a coursework element but not essential. The only thing is that if she was to continue to university on a science/engineering based course she may need a laptop to cope with specific software, a tablet is unlikely to cope. If she's not a gamer, a second hand laptop might be a better option for a levels and save up for a new one once you know what course she is studying for at university

I'd say it was essential. Tablet keyboard with touchscreen and a stylus would be useful or touchscreen 360 laptop. So much is done online - especially with the subjects she has chosen. I hope she likes it.

Yes, but mine doesn’t take it to sixth form, just uses it at home.

Thankyou everyone x

Yes. My 6th former has a desktop computer at home and uses an iPad to take to school everyday as it is lighter than a laptop but can still do everything she needs while at school. If she needs a computer while at school, there is a computing room for all 6th formers open to use anytime between classes.

The college actually recommended they have an iPad and had a lease program where you could lease one for £24/mo. But when I looked at the specifications of the iPads the college was offering the cost to buy one was lower than what I’d be paying over two school years to lease it (and not own it at the end). So I bought her a new one for Christmas.

DD has an Apple MacBook Air. We got it from Apple's own reconditioned part of their website but it had never been opened! Big discount for brand new.

She used to work on it at home and take it into school. It was good to keep on top of emails from school, ucas application, as well as schoolwork. She's still using it a lot now she's at uni - and watching a fair bit of Netflix on it!