The school uses ICT across all faculties and students will come across many specialist applications during their time at school. There is no compunction to have ownership of these applications on personal computers at home or to have a computer at home on which to prepare coursework or homework.
Arrangements are in place within school for students to make use of our ICT facilities before school starts, at break, lunchtime and after school. However, we understand that for those with computers at home, parents may wish to ensure that their children have access to the most compatible software. There are no issues with students either using a PC (Windows, any version), Apple Mac or a Linux based computer provided that when saving files, the correct version is chosen.
All of our systems have “Open Office” installed. Windows systems also have MS Office Professional 2003 and our Apple Mac’s have iWork 09 as well, which includes Pages, Numbers and Keynote.
When using any “office” package it is important to ensure that the files created are saved in a compatible format. As we use Microsoft Office 2003 formats by default, any Word processor, Spreadsheet or Presentation files should be saved as “Microsoft Office 2003” versions. This is also true if you are using MS Office 2007 and soon to be launched Office 2010.
If you are using Apple Mac and have MS Office 2008 installed make sure that the document is saved in MS Office for Mac 2004 format. Users of Linux based machines will more than likely use “Open Office” covered earlier.
Remember for maximum compatibility, always choose “Save As” and select the correct “.doc”, “.xls” or “.ppt” format for Office 2003.
Databases can be created using Open Office Base (Mac/PC) or MS Access 2003 (PC).
Desktop Publishing, Photo Editing, Web Design, Drawings, Animation, Audio & Video
Other software is used throughout the school, and there are many free alternatives to the commercial software we sometimes use. For a list of opensource software and download pages see opposite. ------>
All students who undertake work at home MUST have an up to date Anti Virus and Firewall installed to limit the risks of damage to their work and infecting other machines.
Some specialist software used by some faculties, allows installation of a copy at home. Where appropriate this will be made known to students. Our VLE contains course materials none of which will require software or viewers that are not freely available.