Apple tools support focus on teaching and learning
Walford’s emphasis on teaching and learning is reflected in its choice of Apple education solutions. Geoff says the Mac platform sits more comfortably with the school’s learning-driven approach and the girls enjoy the reliability, integration and ease of use associated with the Apple environment.

“We aim to give our girls an open attitude so they simply assume they can achieve any goal with any computer,” Geoff says. “Apple’s multimedia-oriented hardware and user-friendly software give girls the confidence they need to get on with the task at hand.



A Mac-based school for almost 20 years, today Walford has a vast array of Apple education solutions at its disposal. Every classroom in the junior and middle schools has five Macs on hand, while Year 11 and Year 12 students also have dedicated pods of eMacs in their study areas. Two labs of 27 eMacs are available for all teachers to use, while a bank of 45 iBooks can be borrowed for projects requiring portable Mac systems. The school has a high-speed AirPort Extreme wireless network with 30 basestations across campus. In addition, a large open access area contains almost 60 eMac systems for general student use such as private study, collaborative work and Internet research.

“The open access area is specifically designed to be a non-teaching space so students can explore the power of ICT on their own,” Geoff explains. “We have a standard operating environment on every machine in the school. This gives teachers and students access to all the software they need, including Adobe Photoshop, FileMaker Pro, Macromedia Suite and Microsoft Office 2004. We use K2 KeyServer to keep our licensing in check. For applications like Macromedia and Microsoft Office we have a site-wide licence, while more expensive software like Photoshop is limited to 10 concurrent users.”