In November 2015, Methven Primary School was selected by Microsoft as a Microsoft Showcase School, a global community of schools engaged in digital transformation to improve teaching and learning. Showcase Schools create immersive and inclusive experiences that inspire lifelong learning, stimulating development of essential life skills so students are empowered to achieve more.
Methven Primary School was selected by Microsoft for its excellence in transforming its learning environment to deliver more personalised education to students, using mobile and cloud technology to better prepare students for success in the workplace.
Microsoft Showcase Schools are shining examples of those applying purpose driven innovation in a variety of ways to build connection, motivate students and to create community in and out of school. Being selected as a Microsoft Showcase School is an amazing honour and recognition of the passion our teachers and staff have for creating the best learning environments possible.
Showcase Schools are recognized leaders in personalized learning, amplified by 1:1 deployments effectively using Microsoft solutions (e.g. Surface, Office 365, Office Mix, OneNote, Skype), to enable anywhere, anytime education for all students.
When schools become Showcase Schools, they receive:
- Recognition and promotion via social media and other Microsoft channels
- Inclusion in an exclusive global online professional community for the entire leadership team of the school
- Access to partner product trials and Microsoft early adoption opportunities and pilots
- Opportunities to share their expertise with world-renowned educators and specialists to scale their innovations
- Consulting opportunities within the Microsoft in Education ecosystem
- Eligibility to join invitation-only special events from Microsoft
- Support to share success stories using Microsoft solutions with peers and policymakers
- Support to host tours and events from local and international visitors, and Microsoft executive and field teams to view Microsoft solutions in action
- Promotional materials including digital signage, signatures, and other resources
- Support for the work of their Microsoft Innovative Expert Educators
Click here for more information on the Microsoft Schools Programmes
Office 365 and Student Advantage
Microsoft have made their Office 365 products available to all students at MPS for free. This includes storage of work “in the cloud”. Our relationship with Microsoft also enables students’ immediate families to download from the web copies of the latest Microsoft products at no cost.
Office 365 has unlimited potential for children, parents and teachers to learn, collaborate, create and share. Teachers are continuing to learn alongside students, and at each level will decide how they can best use Office 365.
Currently settings are open within our class sites and we encourage children to follow individual class expectations of use of Office 365. Children should only edit areas previously discussed with their teacher. Emailing and participating in Newsfeeds and Conversations through Office 365 should recognise that this is a learning tool and only appropriate content should be shared. Misuse of this online environment will mean accounts may be shut down temporarily.
All children have an individual email with most having their first initial and surname followed by @methven.school.nz. Passwords have been discussed with students.
Academic institutions that are Microsoft customers and license Office for all faculty/staff are be eligible to offer Office 365 to their Students at no additional cost. Students can take advantage of free Office 365 ProPlus, through a self-sign up process if the institution hasn’t turned off the feature or once their institutions enable this option.
Microsoft is committed to the success of each student and educator. Microsoft believes this offer will help students thrive in their educational endeavours by providing Microsoft’s best productivity solution at no additional licensing cost.
- Go to Office.com/GetOffice365
- Click the “Find out if you’re eligible” link
- Put in your school provided email address
- Follow the prompts to login to Office 365
- Download Office and sign-in with your school ID
In addition to having access to the Office ProPlus client which has application like Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, which work across your PCs and Macs, you can active the clients on your iPad, iPhone, and Android Phone, giving you access to edit and review your homework on the go. You also get 1 TB of storage through OneDrive for Business to ensure you have access to all of your documents whenever you need them. If you using a computer that doesn’t have Office installed, don’t worry you can edit or review those assignments in Office Online in any browser.
Office supports PCs and Windows tablets running Windows 7 or higher, and Macs with Mac OS X 10.6 or higher. Office for iPad can be installed on iPads running version 7.0 or higher. For information about mobile devices, visit www.office.com/mobile.
When you leave MPS, your Office 365 subscription through our school ends at the beginning of the next school year. You should make sure to transfer all your files from your school OneDrive to your personal OneDrive or hard drive prior to you leaving.
Office 365 ProPlus comes with a full version of Office and familiar Office applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote and more. Office 365 ProPlus is a user-based service and allows each student to install on up to five PCs or Macs, and five tablets (iPad) and access Office mobile applications on iPhone and Android phones. (Office Mobile applications are included with all Windows phones). More information here.
Yes, this would count towards the limit of installing it on 5 tablets. Just install the applications and sign in with your school ID.
If you are having issues installing Office, visit Install Office on your PC or Mac with Office 365 for business for installation instructions.