To say schools should not charge for this?

[HelpIcantfindaname]

Previously DDs (14) school have loaned all students laptops in years 10, 11 & 6th form because they are essential for lessons in school. They have been free...up to now.

Now parents have to pay what they call a 'low affordable' monthly rental fee.

This low affordable fee is £25 a month!!!! With £100 deposit!

How many families will be able to afford that? We can't. I've had to take ill health retirement & money is tight.

If this is an essential piece of equipment surely the school should provide them, like they have till now.

It's like telling the rest of the year groups they need to pay for their books . They are not allowed to take their own laptops in because of safety settings.

I know schools are struggling but so are families!

AIBU in thinking this is not going to be manageable for many families?

£300 a year plus £100 deposit, cheaper to buy your own.

I wonder…..
How many have been loaned out vs the amount returned in usable condition 🤔
I have a suspicion many will have been “lost” or “stolen”.

On that basis I would buy one, even if it meant putting it on a 0% credit card and paying myself the "low monthly fee" at least you own it at the end. Realise a lot might not be able to do this though.

Oh sorry just re-read that they can't take their own! This seems like a scam

If my kids school said this to me, I just wouldn't pay it (even tho I could well afford it) They either need to let them bring their own in or provide non laptop lessons.

I'd expect to buy one for that price

This.

It’s fine for them to hire them out, but it should also be fine for students to take their own. I don’t see how a state school can insist on loaning a laptop, tbh.

Challenge the school governing body. This sounds like a classic academy trust swizz.

Ask if the company providing these (overpriced) laptops is in any way related to, owned by, invested in etc, but the management of the academy trust.

What happens if they are broken or legitimately lost/stolen? Do they get another immediately? If there's a technical issue is it fixed immediately?

Nonsense they can’t take their own. Lots of schools allow students to bring their own laptops. They are choosing to not allow it.

As said that is £300 per year plus deposit. You could buy cheaper (or already have) and use it for more than one year.

Well a lot of people aren't going to have the £100 deposit to hand and that''s before even thinking about the £25 a month. Imagine if you have 2 or 3 children at the school - that would really add up fast

I know times are very hard but surely a basic laptop is kind of an essential item for a teenager’s education and aren’t parents expecting to provide it themselves along with school uniform, shoes, food etc? I can’t see how on Earth schools can accommodate providing laptops to every student - of course barely any will come back usable!

I would see this as a basic expense that everyone faces when raising teenagers - it wouldn’t cross my mind that schools would be providing them, sorry. Yet another reason why I can’t see how anyone affords 3+ kids!

I simply couldn't do it.

I couldn't scrape together £100 for a piece of equipment my dc have at home anyway. The £25 a month would be a struggle too.

What are they going to do for the multiple families who won't be able to afford this?

Sorry, just realised school is saying they can’t take their own - you can push back on that if they’re no longer providing one. No organisation can force people to buy from it, that includes a school.

Considering they’re not allowed to use their own laptops, this is is an outrageous request from the school. Don’t pay it and let them figure out how they are going to ensure your child receives her education.

Do they have to have them or are they available if needed ? If the latter and they’re being damaged or broken then paying to rent them makes sense

I'm agog at this thread.

Both of my children, who went to different schools, had to have laptops that we 'contributed' a nominal amount toward, every month for three years.

After that , we were invited to pay a nominal amount as a one off payment, and the laptop was free to the pupils , bar a yearly payment for IT support.

All the school portals could only be accessed via the school laptop and not by a home laptop or PC.
The yearly fee was for School updates, virus updates and firewall.

We lend laptops to children across the whole school and any damage is expected to be paid for. It rarely is. We can't refuse to supply a replacement as they need one for lessons/homework. Whole families with 3, 4, 5 children have left the school without notice and they don't return the laptops. It's a daily struggle to keep on top of repairs and children leaving the school.

I don't agree that it should be compulsory to pay for a school laptop and not allow you to provide your own. But I do think a deposit focuses minds. £100 is steep though.

Send this school this, noting the specs and price:

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/hp-pavilion-14dv2514sa-14-laptop-intel-core-i3-256-gb-ssd-white-10240088.html?istCompanyId=bec25c7e-cbcd-460d-81d5-a25372d2e3d7&istFeedId=4d7eb93e-055f-499d-8ee5-1cdcc50d67d1&istItemId=rxtmxplqa&istBid=t&srcid=198&cmpid=ppc~gg~1011%20(Shopping%20Ads)%20Laptops%20-%20Brand%20HP%20June23~1011%20(Shopping%20Ads)%20Laptops%20-%20Brand%20HP%20June23%20ad%20group~Exact~71700000111800061~&mctag=gg_goog_7904&kwid=GOOGLE&device=c&ds_kids=92700076939682191&tgtid=1011%20(Shopping%20Ads)%20Laptops%20-%20Brand%20HP%20June23&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9YyimaDz_wIVmf_tCh1_VA2KEAQYASABEgKYQ_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

DS is in year 12 and has done just fine with a tablet and PC. Nothing for at school.

I’m another who could afford it and would say no on principle. If it’s not feasible for the school to provide laptops (understandable) then it surely is to teach without them

It isn’t rental it’s instalments. They get to keep it when they leave school .

My DCs have to take their own laptop to school, which works well for us but is a nightmare for the school's IT department which is constantly sorting random issues across a massive range of devices. However, students tend to look after their laptops because they own them. My school hires laptops to all students (same sort of scheme OP has mentioned) and they are not respectful of them at all. So many have cracked screens, keys missing etc, which can all be fixed, but at a cost to the student, so they never are. The problem with insisting on taking your own device to a school that generally hires them to students is that your. child won't have the same software, Apps, easy access to wifi, troubleshooting etc, because the IT team will only be responsible for sorting school devices and licences will only be bought for school laptops.

I assume that the reason children cannot use their own is because the laptops need to have school software installed to be able to monitor activity and also access school-specific files. If you buy one you could ask for them to install the software on that instead. Otherwise, I would go to the school and insist that you cannot afford the cost and therefore by disallowing personal laptops they are excluding financially disadvantaged families.

I didn't need a laptop for school at all and I only left in 2019. Covid is the reason that this is now considered essential. It is also the reason that many families financial situations have changed in the last 3 years. Be considerate of people's circumstances.