Tech Learning & Innovation

Jessica Hallal

Leader of Tech Learning & Innovation

What an exciting start to the year! We understand that new students might still be getting their bearings, with the ever changing nature of technology we have brought important resources together to assist your child on their tech journey at St Mary’s. The IT support page on the student portal has been established to assist students, parents and staff in navigating through some of the digital infrastructure St Mary’s utilise.

The portal is frequently updated with new walkthroughs that aim to provide directions that have students confident with a program feature within 5 minutes. Some areas of support include; setting up printers, submitting tasks in Canvas or working efficiently with Google and Microsoft products. Parents and students are encouraged to email the helpdesk@cns.catholic.edu.au or myself jhallal@cns.catholic.edu.au if there is something that they would like to learn how to do, or if they have encountered an error with any of the instructions provided.

Rain and Digital Technology certainly don’t work well together. While our school bags are water resistant, we are aware that they might not be enough to protect all our equipment, the uniform shop is awaiting the arrival of more waterproof protective bag covers. Further to this, protecting your child’s laptop is improved by the student ensuring they use the laptop slip in the backpack itself, or purchasing an additional Laptop protector sleeve. Laptop protector sleeves are relatively inexpensive from JB-HiFi and Officeworks, St Mary’s is looking to make these available in our Uniform Shop in the future.

The laptop device is a core learning tool at St Mary’s and as a result families are reminded to ensure students are attending school with a charged laptop or with their charger. There is the possibility that students might miss out on core learning experiences if they do not have consistent access to a laptop. iPads are not a suitable replacement for ongoing school participation and curriculum access. If students are without a laptop they require a note from home or communication from home to their Head of Year.

A reminder that if you have purchased a laptop through the school you can contact our technical support. Please direct any technical questions regarding repairs, warranty and loans to Nathan Elsum nelsum@cns.catholic.edu.au  or Nick Purvis npurvis@cns.catholic.edu.au .

Watch this space for all the updates and excitement of Learning with Digital Technology at St Mary’s!