Kia ora

Welcome to Term 1 of the new year! Many schools have either started with their students back in classrooms and are well underway this week, with many others in preparation mode for a start in the coming days. Whatever you are doing, we are really excited to begin the year with all of you again, and here's our first newsletter of the year! ?????

In this edition, you'll find some excellent classroom resources we've put together for your first few days back in class, a resource to help you plan your next Parent Information evening, and some information about our Apple Test Kit Program for this year.

Have a great start to the term, everyone!

?? Apple Test Kit Program - Spaces Available

One of the most popular programs we ran in 2024 was our Cyclone Apple Test Kit, which included a MacBook and four of the latest iPads, along with a Pencil and Keyboard. This is a guided ‘light touch’ coaching program designed for you to explore what the Mac and iPad can do for your school and students.

If you’re considering replacing older devices or supplementing your existing device fleet with iPads and/or Macs, this is the perfect opportunity to trial them before committing your budget. Let us know through the link here if you’d like to learn more!

We have some places available for this year, so get in touch via this link and we’ll be in contact very soon.

???? Cyclone Apple Teacher Bootcamp

We have our first Apple Teacher Bootcamp booked for the year at Ashburton Borough School on the 13th of February. These 60-minute sessions, hosted at local schools for teachers in the area, are a great way for you and your colleagues to get started on your Apple Teacher journey. We explore the Education Community and what the Apple Teacher program looks like, and even support you in getting your first badge.

If you’d like to register for the 13th in Ashburton, click here for the flyer, and if you are interested in hosting one of these events at your school, click here and register your interest!

?? Apple Swift Student Challenge 2025

Do you have some senior students engaged in developing their own Swift projects and interested in entering a great international competition with Apple? The eligibility details are here and applications are only open for 3 weeks, starting February 3, 2025.?

This is an incredible opportunity for student’s to be recognised for their efforts but perhaps some great motivation for entry into next year’s competition. Find out more information here.?

?? Apple Pencil Resource

Late last year I shared this resource that I created and posted on the Apple Educator Community Forum. This is a simple template resource for teachers to use with iPad and Pencil and a great way to explore the oppportunity that Markup has in the classsroom.

You can find the post and downloadable template here - make sure to sign in (or 'up' if you haven't already) so you can download this Pages template.

An example of a template as a Book Report resource

?? Parent / Family Information Session

Many schools are planning parents' and caregivers' evenings to discuss their BYOD and/or digital learning programs for the year. Here's a great resource by Julia Parker and Coby Reynolds, Apple Professional Learning Specialists, available on the Apple Education Forum, for you to download and adapt to suit your needs. It includes a useful Keynote template with information to help parents set up their Apple ID, personalize their iPad, and even a suggested agenda for your meeting. Thanks for creating and sharing this, Julia and Coby!

You might also want to consider sharing this ‘Quick Guides for Learning with Apple’ PDF that Apple provides. It's another great resource to add value to your parent/caregiver evening.

ONE LAST THING!

That’s all for this week’s Apple Education Newsletter. Thank you again for your support and we’ll see you in the new year!

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