William Gallagher
Oasis Academies plans to provide 7th Generation iPads to every pupil in its network of 52 schools in England, plus teachers and support staff.
England's Oasis Academies, a collective of 52 schools, will provide a new 10.2-inch iPad (32GB, Wi-Fi-only), to each of its 30,000 pupils and staff in a program called Oasis Horizons. Most will receive their iPad between January and June 2021, but schools in Birmingham and Grimsby are to get them from this month.
An academy is the British term for a school which has opted out of working with its own local authority officials and instead deals directly with the national government. The stated aim is to have these schools function more as businesses, and a consequence has been that very many academy schools have merged into networks.
Oasis Academies now includes 14 schools around London, plus 8 near Birmingham in the Midlands, and 18 across the north of England. The company is buying the iPads via Sync, a UK Apple retailer, and says that it is "primarily being financed by using the money that we invest each year into IT equipment across our academies."
"What connects Oasis is a passion for healthy, inspiring communities where everyone is included, contributing and reaching their God-given potential," says John Murphy, CEO. "Oasis Horizons will [also] empower our staff to teach in new and exciting ways and to work more efficiently, reducing the time taken to do important activities like marking and freeing up that time to support their students."
The program is not in response to an increase in studying from home. Currently schools in England are open, and pupils will be required to bring their iPads in each day. "Persistent failure to do this means that your child has not prepared for learning," notes Oasis, "and may result in sanction."
This step by selected schools in England follows similar moves in the US. Most recently, Apple highlighted how the same 10.2-inch iPad was being used to teach gardening in Dallas.
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6 Comments
One would have thought that this would be throughout the UK by now, but many schools would rather waste budget on windows PCs that last half as long for a higher cost and lesser learning opportunity.
In terms of education more generally in the UK, I find it incredible that the government hasn’t implemented over summer a national online curriculum. It’s over 20 years since I built an Electronic Learning Managemen System for a global corporation but you would think by now it would be straight-forward and not costly compared to the wasted money in 2020.
By me, K-2 were getting iPads, but most kids were getting Chromebooks because kids need keyboards. Chromebooks with stylus, touchscreen, and Google Classroom and Zoom worked well together this school year for us.
Have to disagree, Winston. No shortage of decent iPad cases w/keyboard built-in. I’ve trialed a few over the years and they all worked fine. With the advantages of Apple hardware providing flexibility and higher resolution. Nowadays, with 2 iPads in use at once + Apple TV, my wife and I keep a Bluetooth keyboard on a corner table in the living room. Handy when needed.
Meanwhile, here in Cupertino Union School District Chromebooks is what the students gets to use.