Technologies | Holmston Primary School

Santa may well be bringing laptops or mobile devices to well-behaved boys and girls this Christmas. We would just like to make parents aware that Microsoft Office can be downloaded for free for all students through their GLOW log in.

Pupils in South Ayrshire are eligible to be part of the Microsoft ‘Student Advantage’ initiative. This initiative gives all pupils access to Office 365 ProPlus (a full version of the Microsoft Office suite) for free to use on up to five of their own machines being Mac or PC and they can also run Office Mobile for Android or Office Mobile for iPhone on up to 5 mobile devices.

To install Office 365 ProPlus on a personal PC or laptop pupils should login to Glow and click on the Download Office Now tile on their school launch pad.

During the setup process pupils and staff will be required to enter their Glow email address details. Full instructions on how to download the software are given once they click on the tile.

To install Office 365 ProPlus on a phone or tablet device pupils and staff need to download the Office apps individually from the app store and then they will be asked to enter their Glow email address.

If your child is unsure of their GLOW username please contact the class teacher.

Further information can be found at http://products.office.com/en-GB/student/office-in-education?tab=schools

Please note that South Ayrshire Council is not responsible for this initiative. Once Office 365 ProPlus is installed any technical issues or questions should be directed straight to Microsoft.

As you know Snapchat is an extremely popular app with young people and they have recently launched a new, optional feature called Snap Maps. This feature allows users to see where in the country their Snapchat contacts are, as well as seeing location based photos and videos. Users can then zoom into the map to see the exact location of their friends.

When first using the Snap Map feature, users need to choose who can see their location on the map. They can choose from: My friends, Only me (‘Ghost Mode’), or Selected friends. A user’s precise location will only be visible to their selected audience. Many young people will have ‘friends’ on Snapchat that they have never met in person, consequently, this could mean that those people are able to see the young person’s location on Snap Map.

Privacy settings for Snap Maps can be changed at any time within the Snapchat Settings screen. Users should regularly review their privacy settings.

Sharing location on any social media app can be a risky thing to do. All users should consider the following:

Only share your location with people you know in person. Never share your location with strangers.
Don’t add contacts to Snapchat if you don’t know them in person.
Regularly review your privacy settings. Remember these can be changed at any time. Think about where you’re sharing your location and what times you’re on the app – do you want to share these locations?

The following websites provide useful information on Snap Maps for teachers, parents, carers and young people:

https://new.thinkuknow.co.uk/professionals/our-views/snap-maps/

http://www.childnet.com/blog/introducing-snap-maps-the-new-location- sharing-feature-in-snapchat

https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/blog/introducing-%E2%80%98snap-maps %E2%80%99-new-location-sharing-feature-snapchat