to say "No way am I buying the Chromebook"??

[xaos]

DD is Y7 in an inde school, they're introducing chromebooks - compulsory. only device allowed in school. the chromebook will be restricted by their device policies so dd can't install anything, it's also going to be screen monitored by a product ALL THE TIME. killer? They are wanting us parents to buy them from the school at £650! No payment plans. Nothing. they can't even tell me how many hours they're using this device for in lessons per week.
my DD already has a macbook and iPad that she does her homework on and stuff when she's at home.

AIBU to not buy it?

We've had to do this too - I've just coughed up for ds2 (already been through the annoyance you're experiencing when we were expected to buy it for ds1). The school support with I.T and will fix all issues in our case, which makes it slightly less irritating.

My dc state primary school does this, every child from year 3 up has one, they charged £180 with a 12 month payment plan.
It has nanny software on it but DS has a second account on it so he can get round it and watch Netflix and YouTube.

Our DS is at a private school and I can guarantee we parents would kick up a huge fuss if this was demanded.

Not least because we forked out over a grand on a high spec Mac so see him through school a couple of years ago.

Wow the new secondary down near me has this but they supply them free of charge and to be handed back when they leave, including an upgrade every 4 years!!

My dds state school every pupil has an iPad and we paid £100 towards it. If it gets broken etc, we have to sort.
The prep school I work at has iPads for all the kids, no money asked for. During lockdown if a child didn’t have a device or it broke, we’d lend a school one out. Parents signed a waiver for loss and or damage.

I would ask if some of the cost includes an on-call IT support service that can be accessed by teachers, parents, and students.

My DD has one in her state secondary school however it was around £400. There was a payment plan but it was with a company that involved paying interest. Those with hardship were subsidised or given one. I guess it’s different though for those at independent schools.
They are essential as so much kids work and learning will be completed via the chrome books during lessons.
Eventually ALL secondary schools in The UK will have them.
My DD has very few lesson books and when she does they are for notes and working, not for actual assignments etc. All homework is done via the chrome book and literally every child in the whole school has one.
They are extremely well monitored. If you so much as type a suspect word or phrase into safari you (the student) will be in a meeting with a senior teacher. Can’t download anything on to them at all that isn’t allowed by the school.
It works excellently. You absolutely must get one for your DD if that is what their policy is.

650 quid for a Chromebook, are they having a giraffe? I know it’s a private school, but Jesus, they are taking the piss.

YANBU, chromebooks are shit. There’s no way on this earth I’d waste that amount of money on one even if I had it to waste, I’d get something decent instead.

our state school wanted us all to buy iPads it was hit with a hard no from all the parents.

YANBU

This is crazy.

A chromebook is basically a glorified web browser - it’s not possible to install regular software on them.

IPads are far better value for money - more useful, better in every way, will last years longer and are practically half the price.

It's ridiculous how they aren't offering payment plans.

My eldest sons school (state school) is an ipad school so they all have to have one, either purchased privately to have the software downloaded on to it or you can enter into their monthly scheme. I think it does work out more expensive (idk how much an ipad costs but I will pay £25 a month from Yr 7-9 then it belongs to us) it does have restrictions on it but the whiteboards in class link up to them and homework is set on them etc

Sounds like the cost is actually to cover the salary of IT Support.....

Our DC's school (independent) supply iPads for all students which work brilliantly. They can bring them home and use at home, although they are restricted from downloading other apps/ games etc.

Because without these restrictions, children game, message and watch porn at school.

I too thought the idea of Chromebooks was that they were supposed to be cheap. However, it appears that there is laptop hardware of every specification that comes with Chromebook software installed. Argos sells a Chromebook that costs £1300. (They also sell one priced at £100.)

My DD school uses ipads, however we didn't pay extra, it's paid for by the school out of fees.

Her most powerful non-school device is an HP laptop now running Windows 11, that only cost £400, and should be powerful enough for 99% of people's requirements.

What happens when your DC leaves the school? It will presumably be useless.

YABU to think her existing tech is sufficient - MacBooks & iPads are not compatible with many of the programs/software schools use. I know state schools that also require them now too… but YANBU at the cost as a £300 chromebook will do the job fine. DDs school uses theirs a lot - and all homework is accessed and handed in on them (bar art etc).

My dc (both at state schools) have iPads provided by the school.

Sorry - know OF some state schools.

A seven-year-old portable device is probably ready for the scrapheap anyway. Even on my non-portable PC, I'm finding that motherboards and power supplies are expiring in much less time than that.

(My last two motherboards were replacements for ones that failed after about three years. I've had one PSU expire in one year, it's replacement then lasted only three. The third last PSU came with my original case, and lasted 15 years, and was only replaced because I wanted something quieter, not because it stopped working. Not sure why hardware reliability has declined so much, these are all major brands I'm buying.)

Setting aside the cost and the spec, why wouldn’t you want net nanny software on there? It saves having to choose and install and maintain one yourself, all of which is a hassle. IMO anyone who doesn’t have some sort of safeguards on their child or teen’s computer is taking a huge risk. It might be ok, but it might not be, in terms of mental health and even (at the extreme end) physical safety.

Who the hell can magic 650 quid out of nowhere!!

People who send their kids to private school (like the OP) I’m guessing

There's no reason an iPad or Mac isn't compatible, most people at our 6th form use an iPad Pro with a keyboard. Everything is online - there isn't a single thing you can do on a Chromebook that you can't do on a Mac or iPad, that's nonsense.

If you can't do it on an iPad, you wouldn't be able to do it on a Chromebook anyhow.

Whoever won the contract for supplying/supporting these with this school saw their procurement officer coming a mile off! With buying power like that they should have got a much better deal... Are they adding a mark up as a cheeky sideline?
I think some savvy questions from parents should be fielded, any of the parents work in company it departments who do this sort of thing all the time?

Not a chance.
School requires something specific then school supplies.
School controls the device then school supplies.
What happens when they finish school/leave? can you trust the device you own is usable and clean of their monitoring? nope.
If it was £200 i might be a bit more amenable to it but not at 650

Sounds like the school management team are pretty hopeless. They should have just rolled it into their annual fee increase to put an extra £120 per term onto the fees, given out the Chromebooks "free" and after 2 years the chromebooks are all paid for and there's a nice pot of additional money.

Our independent school required iPads for all pupils but it's paid for from fees, we didn't get asked for it separately. Having them locked down to be used for educational purposes only is a good thing.