Sherwood Park Primary School

January 2002

We got match funding FROM the Kent and Somerset Virtual EAZ and IRL computers for new computer suites.

Because of the funding we only had to cover costs of cabling and furniture for the suites.

There are 2 rooms with 15 thin clients in each using a server for applications and and ISDN line for Internet connection. We use Star Office for word processing, spreadsheets and drawing packages but have to use Windows for our educational software.

There have been technical difficulties associated with administering logins and passwords for younger students. The Star office presentation package is more difficult to use than PowerPoint so we can't stop using Microsoft for that. We are happy with the savings we've made on licensing but the limiting nature of thin clients for multimedia makes it difficult sometimes.

We've also had some difficulties with software compatibility on Linux but overall we have many more computers in school than we would have done. The children are also finding it easy to move between the different computer systems in school.

At the moment it seems as though Linux is better placed for secondary schools who have larger suites of computers and technicians on hand.

We will be moving to a medium client system to provide better multimedia support and dual booting capability.