McKinnonNEWS

ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS' REPORT

PRESENTATION NIGHT REHEARSALS & END OF YEAR

Due to preparations for Presentation Night being conducted on Tuesday 13 December, classes will conclude at 12:30pm on this day; this will be the final day of scheduled Year 9 classes (with many Year 9 students participating in the Duke of Edinburgh hike for the remainder of that week). Year 7 & 8 students will attend end-of-year activities on Wednesday 14 & Thursday 15 December. As teachers will be undertaking professional development and planning for 2017 on 16, 19 & 20 December, these final three days of the school year are student-free days.

COMBINATION LOCKS

All students need to retain their combination lock for their lockers.  The lock must be taken home and brought with them on the first day of school in 2017.

CHROMEBOOKS FOR 2017

The parent portal to order Chromebooks for 2017 is now open; please follow the links from the news item on Compass.  

 

For our current Year 9 students (who enter Year 10 in 2017), their Chromebook is approaching the end of its 3-year warranty. Many of these devices are showing their age - processing more slowly and with keyboards/screens starting to show signs of wear and tear. Families have the following options:

  1. Purchase a new Chromebook through JB HiFi for the start of the 2017 school year. This will have a 3 year warranty (through until the end of Year 12). Through the JB HiFi portal, students can choose from two alternative devices - a Lenovo 11e with touchscreen (approx $680) or a Lenovo 11e without touchscreen (approx $595). Choosing whether to have a touchscreen is entirely a matter of personal choice - students will be able to work just as effectively on either Chromebook. These newer models have significantly better processing power and greater battery life than the current device and open up new options for apps requiring more power.
  2. Continue to use the existing Chromebook in 2017. Any repairs required would not be covered by a warranty; families could choose to replace the existing device with a new Chromebook (ordered via the JB portal) if/when it is damaged or operating too slowly.

Given the age of the existing devices, purchasing new would be our recommended option to get the best value and functionality over the next 3 years of school.

 

Chromebooks are ordered through this portal: http://www.jbeducation.com.au/BYOD; when asked for the school code, please enter 2017MKSC. When placing the order and entering your child's details, the 'Student Username' is their school ID code (EG: ABC0001).  

 

Orders can be placed now, however Chromebooks won't be ready for collection until around mid/late December. We encourage all families to place an order by early January 2017, to ensure the device is ready to use at the beginning of the next school year. This device will come preconfigured to connect to McKinnon’s network, and is not available directly from a JB retail outlet (orders are to be placed online through JB’s education branch).

THANK YOU

We thank all families for your support of our teachers and curriculum programs throughout 2016; we wish you all a safe and restful summer break, and look forward to working with you again in 2017.