Digital Technologies at Gulf Harbour School
At Gulf Harbour School, we provide each student with the skills needed to become 21st century learners. Digital Technology is an essential component in achieving this objective.
Digital Technology is integrated into daily classroom life, across all curriculum areas using a variety of methods and devices. An area that is forever changing and evolving, we are aware that parents and our community often feel out of touch with this aspect of our children's learning. This page will hopefully help to bridge this gap.
Although we use a range of devices at Gulf Harbour, the majority of learning, communication and collaboration is done with the support of Google Suite for Education. This, until recently was known as 'Google Apps for Education'.
Google Suite is a set of online tools that aid collaboration, time-management, and document storage. Provided by Google to schools at no cost, these tools include:
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Calendar: a customisable calendar and to-do list.
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Google Docs Suite: a word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and drawing program that allows multi-user access and editing.
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Gmail: Web based email that provides spam protection, this education version is spam free.
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Google Classroom, Google Sites and Youtube
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Google continues to add new tools and the school will evaluate each of its educational potential as they come.
We are a Google Suite School.
What does this mean?
Below are instructions for how you can help your child to access their account at home.
Their email address will be
(for example: timmyjones@ghs.school.nz)
If you need a reminder of your child's password please ask you're child's teacher.
1. In your Web browser, go to drive.google.com. Your browser automatically redirects to Google’s Sign In screen, which is the screen you use to sign in to all of Google’s applications.
2. Type in your Google e-mail address and password.
3. If you want your browser to automatically log you in each time you visit Google Drive, check the Stay Signed In box.
4. Click Sign In. Now, you see your Google Drive.
How do we access my child's Google account?
No. Although we are integrating the use of Digital Technology into our learning more, this does not mean that your child will be fixed to a screen. Students will still work in small groups with their teacher, work in groups with their peers, use other ‘hands on’ learning and write in books. They will still be handwriting, drawing, painting, running, throwing and communicating. We do not want to substitute books for a computer. Devices will be used at the teacher’s discretion when they can support or enhance learning. The device is a tool which will be used when appropriate. Teachers are extremely aware of the need to ensure that long sustained periods of time in front of a screen do not occur.
Will my child be staring at a screen all day?
At Gulf Harbour, each Year 0 to 4 classroom has a set of digital devices for their use that suit their level of development.
Year 0 /1: ipads
Year 2: ipads
Year 3/4: Chromebooks
Year 5/6: BYOD (bring their own device, in preparation for college)
What devices will my child use at school?
We have a secure network that filters websites and can track the history of any user. We also receive reports of any attempts to break our filtering, which we will follow-up on where appropriate. No filtering can ever be guaranteed to be 100%, so we will combine our filtering programme with a school-wide digital citizenship programme where teacher-led cyber safety sessions teaches our students how to be good digital citizens and how to be safe when using the internet. There will also be a User Agreement that students and parents will be expected to discuss and sign before your child is allowed to use a device at school. (see cybersafety agreements).
How will my child be kept safe when using the internet?
The widespread adoption of technology and our increasing use of digital platforms means that every New Zealander needs to know how to model responsible behaviours as successful ‘digital citizens’ in real-world contexts.
Anyone using the internet should understand how good citizenship values apply online and our school works with both students and families to help develop skills and knowledge around this concept.
What is a Digital Citizen?
Sometimes it’s hard to know where to start when it comes to keeping your children safe online. The internet changes all the time, and it’s full of perils and positives that are tricky to navigate even as adults. While we’re all still learning what it means to support our kids online, we’ve got some ideas to help you get started.