Cedars School of Excellence: 1:1 iPad overview

1:1 iPads across the school

Cedars School of Excellence in Greenock is an independent school catering for children ages from 5 to 17 years. In 2009 they were inspired by the announcement of Apple’s new iPad that would lead them to become the first school to offer 1:1 iPad provision for learners and staff. Since that time they have been working to integrate the use of this technology in to the fabric of learning in their school. We visited them in October 2012 to find out what their experience with their 1:1 approach had been.

We met with Mrs Speirs (headteacher) who explained the context for the decision to go with the 1:1 iPad provision. She told us that a few years back the school was looking to move the technological experience of their pupils on a bit further from where they were. The school’s vision at the time was to increase learner access to tools that would allow them to have more access to the internet and to word processing.

The school had looked at a range of devices, but just as they were in the process of evaluating which device to go with the iPad came out, and so they made the decision that this would be the one for them. The school’s website tells this story in greater detail.

cedars_aspeirsimpact Interview with Mrs Speirs (headteacher)

Mrs Speirs thinks that that the decision has been a very good one for her learners and that the 1:1 approach fits very well with the school’s educational ethos, which is all about individualised learning. She thinks that she has seen the greatest impact on the engagement with learning by the boys in her school and that the functionality and flexibility that the tool offers has led to greater depth and detail in the feedback that her teachers now offer.

3 thoughts on “Cedars School of Excellence: 1:1 iPad overview”

  1. I’m sure this article means “In 2009 they became the first school to offer 1:1 iOS device provision”, since the first iPad didn’t exist/ship until Spring 2010.

  2. Hello, I have made a clarification on the post. 2009 was when they heard about the forthcoming release of the iPad and was when their discussions began.

  3. Before the end of January 2010, no one outside of a select few within Apple in California knew the iPad really existed. Anything before that was pure speculation. No matter what your friendly Apple UK sales rep tells you. Steve Jobs never allowed anyone to know about unannounced products in advance, let alone Apple UK. They found out at the same time as the rest of us, as they always do.

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