Family Access

We appreciate the excitement a new computer can bring to a family, but we ask your co-operation in not letting other family members use the laptops for at least a couple of weeks. The Year 4 students are still learning their way around the devices themselves, and we don't need any accidental deleting of files or programs.

The students are full administrators of their computers. In theory, they are able to change system preferences and delete files and programs. We have impressed upon the students the responsibility they hold and the importance of keeping their password secure, with the only people who have access to it being their parents, their teachers and themselves, not siblings. Down the track, we will look at a system that may allow siblings access to the computer under a family username which will have limited authority.

Thank you.

Mac tutorials

As promised we are negotiating with our vendor to run information sessions for parents to attend to become more familiar with the Mac environment. It is proving challenging to find times that might suit the most parents wishing to attend!

In the meantime, Apple provide clear and easy to follow tutorials on their website. Check them out...

Apple Tutorials

These tutorials not only cover the basic look and feel of a Mac, but also show users how to set up their home wireless connections, and how to use programs like Safari, iPhoto, iMovie etc. They are so good, we will probably be using them with the children too!

Before and after school procedures

When travelling to and from school, students should have their laptops in their laptop bag within their school bag. Laptops should not be carried separately.

The same applies when the children arrive at school. Laptops should be in their cases, in their bags. Not carried separately. Early arrivals are expected to sit in the undercover area until a teacher comes on duty, with their bags. If students go to before school care, laptops are to stay in their bags. Year 4 students have been told explicitly that under no circumstances are they to take their laptops out of their bags. Once they are released, students put their bags on the port racks and go to their designated play space. Bell rings and they then unpack their bags, including their laptop in its case, and enter their classroom.  

Once again, the same procedures apply after school. Laptops should be in their cases, in their bags. Not carried separately. Laptops should not be taken out of the students' bags until they have arrived home. If a student goes to after school care, the laptop stays in the school bag until they arrive home.

Guidelines for Students and Parents

Below you can view the Student and Parent Guidelines that are required to be signed by both parents and students before the laptops go home this Friday...

St Lukes Guidelines by

Student Emails

A decision has been made that the students will be using the Brisbane Catholic Education email account that has been set up for them. This email is beneficial for the students to use as it is part of the authentication process that is needed for the students to access the online learning management system. In using this email address, the students will also receive the same filtering that applies to all BCE members. While the address will use the student's name (eg msmith@mybce.catholic.edu.au), it is the email account used by BCE schools for their students, and is more secure than public email systems such as gmail or hotmail, and does not require the user to be over 18 years of age. Please be assured that if any student experiences unsolicited junk mail or spam when using the mybce email system, immediate action will be taken to resolve the issue. We have almost finalised arrangements with our vendor for parent training options, so keep an eye out for this information!

First Steps

This week we will begin teaching the students how to manage their laptops. Topics we hope to cover include- Creating unique username and password Logging on to computer, and changing generic password. Setting desktop and dock preferences Saving documents Logging into LIFE Setting internet home page Setting up Dropbox Setting up student mybce email account Using Airdrop Creating an avatar