Google Workspace for Education

As you may be aware, Glendowie School is a Google Workspace for Education School.  At the beginning of 2015, we launched Google Apps for Education (now Google Workspace for Education) to all Year 4 – 8 students.  This has proven to be a successful venture with students using their Google Workspace accounts and various technologies to support their learning, collaborate with other schools, with each other and with their teachers. 

What does this mean for my child? 

• Year 3 students will be given a google email with their own password.  This becomes their username and password for all web-based tools that we currently use.  
• At this stage students are only able to email (excluding Y3), communicate and share work with Glendowie School staff and students.  This may be opened up to allow communication between home and school for particular Units of Inquiry.
• All student correspondence will be checked randomly by the class teacher to ensure that correspondence is school work related only.
• Alongside our Cybersafety Responsible Use Agreement (see our website https://glendowie.school.nz/policies-and-procedures/), a list of Google Workspace for Education Focus Reminders (see below) are continually referred to, to remind students of our Digital Citizenship expectations when using this platform.  
• Google Workspace will act as a platform for teaching students the necessary skills to be responsible digital citizens.

As a parent, what do I need to know and do?

• Whilst in school, all internet traffic is filtered by Network For Learning’s firewall.  This firewall does not transfer to the home environment and as a result we cannot control inappropriate content students may encounter and save in their Google Drive and Google Classroom at home.   Whilst in school teachers randomly check student correspondence and have an expectation that the students will tell us about any untoward occurrences that may arise during learning time.  We take cyber safety very seriously and have consequences in place for breaches that occur at school, as outlined in our Discipline Procedure.  
• Parents may also want to use this opportunity to explore Google Workspace for Education with their child and decide on their own home rules to keep cyber safe.  We encourage you to spend some time discussing consequences with your children of inappropriate use that may occur at home, monitor their time on devices and perhaps consider using a parental control such as Qustodio (formally Family Zone).
• Students should consider their school email and Google Classroom as an extension of the classroom, subject to the same rules of respect and courtesy that we expect in school.  As you talk to your child about the acceptable use of email, you might use an analogy of adults’ work and personal emails.  Most employers ask that work email only be used for work, and employers have access to view and limit the use of email to make sure it is used appropriately.
• When students leave Glendowie School, their Google account is deleted.

Google Workspace for Education Focus Reminders:

• Do not share passwords.
• Google Workspace is for school work only.
• Teachers can monitor all items created and shared.
• Be courteous on all documents.

Essentially, Google Workspace for Education is a cloud based learning platform allowing teachers and students to create a range of documents online, email, share calendars and 30 gigabytes of data to be accessed at home and school on any device.  Google Workspace allows us to collaborate and learn more effectively through the use of technology, and offer a range of new learning opportunities for teachers and students.  As a result, all documents created by your child are stored in Google’s Google Workspace for Education Cloud.

Learning does not just happen within the confines of classrooms between 9am and 3pm.  Our teachers, like our students, are on a life-long learning journey and with today’s technology it can happen anytime, anywhere. Keeping in line with our Cybersafety Responsible Use Agreements we will be working with students to educate them around using Google Workspace in a productive and responsible manner.   

Further information about Google Workspace can be found here:

Facts about Google Workspace

• Google Workspace is used by many of the world’s leading educational institutions, including universities, secondary and primary schools.  Many New Zealand schools are using Google Workspace right now, including Glendowie College.
• Google Workspace is completely free for schools and does not contain advertising anywhere within it.
• Many of Google Workspace apps such as Google Docs and Gmail are familiar to many students and parents.

How will Google Workspace enhance my child’s learning opportunities?

• Google Workspace allows up to 100 teachers and students the ability to collaborate on documents simultaneously.  This type of collaboration has been impossible in the past.
• Google Workspace works on any device.  This allows our students to continue learning beyond the classroom and the ability to access their content at any time.  Work that has been started at school can now be worked on for homework.
• Students and teachers can work in teams, sharing calendars, documents and collaborating ideas to learn more effectively.  Groups of students can investigate and take action through a shared document or presentation.  They no longer have to wait until student A has closed the document for student B to add their learning.  Teachers can add comments, suggestions, next steps in real-time.

What should I be aware of?

• Google Workspace allows students to communicate and store information in both public and private spaces online. 
• Unlike many other web services Google Workspace acknowledges its users as the owners of content they produce and store.
• Google Workspace states that they do not share any data or user information with any other party, unlike other Google products such as Gmail.
• Your child will be provided an email address as part of the Google Workspace package and will be restricted to only emailing staff and students in our domain.  They will not be able to send and receive emails to outside parties, unless students need to gather data for their Unit of Inquiry from teacher approved organisations..
• Google Workspace terms of service can be read here:

Thank you for your support as we work to leverage collaboration tools for 21st century teaching and learning.  If you have any feedback you would like to share, please feel free to contact us.