What is the BGS Laptop Program?
All secondary school students are provided with a school-supplied laptop as part of the BGS Laptop program, and this is charged at $750 annually via your school fees. After three years the device expires and it is replaced with a new laptop on the first day of term the following year. The three year package full cost is $2,250.
The BGS laptop program ensures the boys’ learning is fully supported by providing all boys with a reliable, high quality HP laptop installed with all school software, licenses and cyber security.
Daily on-site technical student support is provided at the IT department, extended 3-year device warranty, a protective Targus laptop bag, HP active pen, asset management & named house decal, and capped-price $150 repairs performed at BGS by HP technicians, and spare HP loan laptops are available during any repairs or servicing.
FAQs
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What sort of laptop is provided in the program?
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Why can’t students bring their own laptop (BYOD) anymore?
The School has undertaken an extensive review and identified the benefits of the school-managed laptops, particularly on the effectiveness on boys’ learning. As such, we will no longer be offering a ‘bring your own device’ option for students from Years 10-12.
All Year 10-12 students will therefore be required to participate in the compulsory three year school-managed laptop program from next year and be automatically supplied with the HP Elitebook X360 1030 G8 2023.
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When will my son get a new laptop?
- Year 7 – all boys receive their laptops along with a full day of IT training on the 2nd day of term, after their school orientation which is held on Day 1
- Year 10 – If your son commenced BGS in Year 7, he will be provided with his new laptop on his first day of Year 10.
- If your son commenced BGS in any other year level, his laptop will be valid for three years from the time of his admission, with a new laptop provided at its expiry on Day 1 of the next school year.
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Do I need to order my son’s laptop?
No, laptops are automatically ordered for all students when the device reaches its three year expiry.
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What do I do with the expired laptop?
If you wish to keep your son’s expired laptop, you may wish to bring it to IT and the the team will reimage the laptop to factory settings free of charge.
Alternatively, we have partnered with RenewIT to offer BGS families a buy-back option for your son’s expired laptop:
- In late January 2023 (date to be provided via the BGS App in Term 4), families can bring their son’s old BGS laptop in to school for the RenewIT engineers to grade the laptop condition and provide you with its buy back value – see below for indicative credit values for laptop conditions*.
- Once graded and confirmed by you, the devices will be taken away and wiped for either resale, spare parts or e-waste recycled.
- The credited amount for families choosing to use this service will be deducted from your first $750 instalment of your new BGS laptop via your school fees.
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What is the laptop buy-back scheme?
We have partnered with RenewIT to offer BGS families a buy-back option for your son’s expired laptop:
- In Term 1 each year (date to be provided via the BGS App), families can bring their son’s old BGS laptop in to school for the RenewIT engineers to collect – see below for indicative credit values for laptop conditions*.
- The devices will be taken away, graded and wiped for either resale, spare parts or e-waste recycled.
- The credited amount for families choosing to use this service will be deducted from your school fees.
Condition
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Description
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Indicative Credit
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Grade A
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Clean, good working order and up to 1 cosmetic flaw
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$245
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Grade B
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small cosmetic wear and tear, no cracked screens, in working order
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$180
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Grade C
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damaged device: cracked screen, 3+ cosmetic flaws, dents, keys missing
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$65
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eWaste
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any old computers, iPhones, & non-working laptops etc
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0
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* prices above correct as of Feb 2023 and will be confirmed and advised by RenewIT six weeks prior
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What if I can’t come to the laptop buy-back day?
We only are able to facilitate this program once annually. If the student or parent aren’t able to attend on the buy-back day, you can send an authorised friend or family member to bring the device in as long as it is clearly named and they have your consent to acknowledge the buy-back in valuation.
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Why can’t the laptops be used after 3 years, it still seems ok to me?
Three years is the supported asset lifecycle of these devices from our warranty and support partners, and this is standard in education, corporate and government.
Outside of this lifecycle, the Windows operating systems, asset drivers, supplied software, security updates, HP service and warranty repairs expire. We are unable to extend them outside of the three year period.
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Is there an option to select an upgrade for my son’s new device?
The standard HP Elitebook laptop is used by all students is more than sufficient for all BGS subjects including all creative arts subjects.
However, should your son have any addition requirements outside of schoolwork, you are able to order a laptop with additional memory and compute power at your additional cost when they enter Year 7 (this option is not available at Year 7).
This device is identical to the standard BGS device, but has an Intel i7 processor (instead of i5) and 16Gb of RAM (instead of 8Gb). The total cost of the optional upgraded device is $3,250 over three years. Please contact the IT Director if you wish to discuss this option.
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What cyber safety is in place for school laptops?
At Brighton Grammar School, we take extensive measures to provide a cyber-safe environment. While the boys are at School on our network, we restrict access to gaming, social media and inappropriate websites via our network, firewall and the FamilyZone application which is installed on every device and reinstalled every 20 minute via policy if it is removed. Antivirus software is installed, and email is filtered by Mimecast for malicious content.
All students are also provided with a copy of the ICT Acceptable Use Policy in their school record book.
If you would like to know more about the child-safety settings or restrictions you are able to apply at home, you can utilise the parent component available via the FamilyZone software installed on each student device. Refer here for the FamilyZone parent user guide.
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Does the laptop program provide insurance if my son’s device is lost or stolen?
No. We also recommend you evaluate whether insuring your son’s laptop against loss is feasible via your own home and contents insurance, as personal laptops are not covered under the School’s insurance policy.
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What happens to all my son’s school work when he gets a new computer?
Students save all their schoolwork in Microsoft 365 OneDrive which is cloud-based, so logging into a new computer is quick and easy and requires no data transfer. Boys are taught to only save their work in OneDrive and not to store school work on their laptops,. This allows us to deliver seamless IT support when they need to borrow a loan laptops; if their computer needs to be re-imaged; and when laptops are replaced after three years, and it ensures the boys work is always backed up and never at risk of being lost. They simply go to www.office.com to login and access all their school work.
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What do I do with the device when my son finishes at BGS?
At the end of all three-year cycles, the family owns the device outright to keep. At this time, your son can bring his laptop to the BGS IT Department to have a generic version of Windows installed and all school licenses, controls and monitoring removed.
If your son is leaving and you have not had the laptop for (nor paid for) the full three years, you can either pay out the remaining amount owing to keep the laptop, or contact the IT Director to discuss return options.