During Term 1 2019, Joseph Banks Secondary College trialled an App called Zulu Desk with our Year 7 cohort. This App allowed teachers to have better control over student devices while they are being used in the class room. Zulu Desk is complemented by the Apple Class Room App which allows teachers to view all student devices at the same time. This provides greater supervision for monitoring student activity while they are on campus.

We know that many students use iPads and other technology for the first time when entering high school. Research says that cyberbullying increases in teen years (Dr. Ken Shore). Our aim in using this app was to decrease opportunity for misuses of iPads at school.

From Term 3 2019, the Zulu Desk trial was considered a success with 96% of staff requesting its permanent implementation. All of the staff involved in the trial noticed an increase in student productivity and the quality of work being produced. As a result, the College’s Leadership team has now made Zulu Desk mandatory for all Year 7, 8 and 9 students.

While in class, teachers will be able to restrict what apps and websites students have access to. To students, their iPad will work exactly the same, as usual, and there will be no restrictions on student’s devices outside of the College’s learning hours. In 2020 the College plans to launch the use of the parent equivalent of Zulu Desk. The parent App will allow you to enforce your own App and Website restrictions while your child is at home.

The App will assist teachers to deliver better student learning outcomes and help your child grow their curiosity and knowledge. The College will provide the Zulu Desk licence to all Year 7 and 8 students. The Department of Education provides all students with the Microsoft Office 365 suite of Apps and these, along with the NAPLAN app will be installed at the same time as Zulu Desk.

Zulu Desk needs to be installed at the College by our technicians. To allow this to happen, please deliver your iPad to the IT Service Desk, prior to the commencement of Term 1, 2025.

Please note, to undertake this process, your child’s device will be reset and the College will install a customised version of iOS 17 to ensure that Zulu Desk can be used to its fullest potential. Documents and photos should be synchronised with iCloud to ensure no documents or photos are lost. However, saved games and data within Apps will be lost. Therefore, it would be preferable to reset the iPad prior to student use.