BYOD at Rathkeale College

Rathkeale College is committed to integrating innovation and technology into teaching across all levels. We encourage students to take ownership of their learning and choose how they deliver their content. Allowing students to bring their own device (BYOD) and have control over their own device gives them the flexibility to access their learning anywhere, anytime.

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Minimum Requirements

A touch screen device with an ‘active’ stylus pen is highly recommended and is a requirement for Year 9 and 10 students. A stylus pen is extremely useful in subjects such as Science and Mathematics where students are dealing with symbols and diagrams on a regular basis. An ‘active’ stylus will detect the pen when writing and will prevent your palm from activating the touch screen. This allows for natural handwriting.
If you have an existing device, or intend on purchasing a device, that is not touch capable then we recommend that you purchase a USB digital drawing tablet that can be attached to the device so that it can accept a stylus pen input.

Minimum Specifications:

If you are considering purchasing a device independently, please ensure that it meets the following specifications:

Operating System Microsoft Windows 10, Apple OS X 10.9+
Processor Mobile focused Intel Core i3 minimum, i5 recommended. AMD 64
Main Memory/RAM 4GB minimum
Hard Drive (SSD/HDD) 128 GB or higher SSD (256 GB recommended). Solid State Disk (SSD) instead of traditional Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is highly recommended (SSD are much faster and provide longer battery life)
Input QWERTY keyboard, attached, detachable or Bluetooth
Screen size 10.1″ minimum, 15″ maximum. Touch Screen and Active stylus pen
External Ports 1 (or more) x Full size USB 2.0/3.0 (micro USB suitable with adapter)
Wireless Adapter Wi-Fi compatible – Required Specification
Wireless 802.11n/ac
Battery Life Ideally six hours on a single charge
Microsoft Office Microsoft Office is available for Rathkeale students to download for free. Information on how to access this is available on Rathkeale Online.
Anti-Virus software Compulsory anti-virus for all devices. Note: New Windows 10 computers include Windows defender built in for free. This is a suitable anti-virus program.
Java For web applications
Web Browser Web browser – Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Safari

Purchasing a recommended BYOD Device

We have partnered with a number of retailers and developed customised portals that parents can purchase recommended devices from:

Cyclone is a New Zealand owned ICT company that provides an efficient procurement capability for NZ Government agencies, tertiary institutions, schools and commercial organisations.

Cyclone BYOD Portal​

​​Login: rathkeale
Password: rathbyod

PB Tech is NZ’s largest computing and I.T. retailer and offers the best prices on a wide range of technology products.

PB Tech BYOD Portal

Password: rathbyod

Mention Rathkeale College at a Noel Leeming store to receive special school discounts on BYOD and accessories.

BYOD Device Flyer

Software and services available to Rathkeale students

Office 365

Rathkeale College uses Microsoft Office 365. This is great news for Rathkeale students and their families as it provides them with a huge range of great products at absolutely no cost.

Through Office 365 (Rathkeale Online) students can access the following Microsoft applications:

Applications

In addition to this, all students at Rathkeale College (including St Matthew’s Senior College) can now access Microsoft Office Professional for PC or Mac completely free through Rathkeale Online.

Each student is allowed to download Microsoft Office on up to 5 computers. This means that the licenses can be shared with other members of the family. The licenses are only valid while attending Rathkeale College.

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To download Microsoft Office 365 go to http://portal.office.com and login with your school credentials.

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OneDrive for Business allows students to store all of their work online in the cloud. This means that their work can be accessed anywhere from any internet connected device. With OneDrive, students will never have to worry about backups or storage on their device.

All Rathkeale and St Matthew’s Senior College students are entitled to 1TB of OneDrive online storage.