Laptops and tablets are increasingly becoming standard items at Flemish schools. For both students and teachers, these convenient devices are unmissable for everyday learning. That’s why GO! Middenschool Halle has chosen WpaaS, a service provided by ICT-partner Inetum-Realdolmen. WpaaS will help the school to facilitate the purchase of technical devices and guarantee their use in classrooms, even in the event of damage or theft.

GO! Middenschool Halle is a member of the UN!K group of schools. The group unites dozens of institutions from GO! education of the Flemish Community, spread across the regions of Asse, Halle, and Wemmel. “As a middle school, we focus exclusively on education for the first phase of secondary education,” says principal David De Clercq. 

GO! Middenschool Halle is located on the same campus as GO! Atheneum Halle and elementary school De Leerboom, both members of the same group of schools. The middle school has about 500 students and is a separate institution with its own teaching team. 

“Today, it's impossible to imagine a classroom without laptops,” says the school principal. “It’s a mobile device that creates lots of additional learning opportunities for young people. And it allows both students and teachers to work more efficiently and that means more learning time. That same laptop also allows us to work in a way tailored specifically to each student.” This is by no means a luxury for GO! Middenschool Halle. “We work with a very diverse student population with different learning speeds.” A big advantage is that teachers now provide better classes didactically using customized digital exercise materials. They can also switch easily between a student and a classroom learning event or between a student’s laptop and their own laptop with a projector.

WpaaS unburdens the school

All of these reasons prove why the ambitions of the Flemish education services to provide every student with a laptop, are unquestionably justified. In recent years, the COVID pandemic undeniably accelerated this trend. “Before COVID, we had some ICT rooms that teachers could reserve, but they were usually fully booked,” recalls David De Clercq. “And we had a few mobile devices that students could borrow. We noticed demand increasing every year, including from teachers. Yet it was increasingly difficult for the school to buy a mobile device for everyone, let alone repair or replace it right away every time there was a malfunction.”

 One-stop shop

The basis of the WpaaS range for GO! Middenschool Halle is hardware from HP with the accompanying accessories. Inetum-Realdolmen prepared a catalog based on the needs of the school’s users. “For instance, the touch screen on HP devices makes it easy for our students to use them. Another convenience allows the teachers to fold their laptops into a tablet.”

Besides replacing a stolen device, the WpaaS formula also guarantees the speedy repair of damaged devices. “If a laptop malfunctions or stops working, an Inetum-Realdolmen technician collects, repairs, and returns it as soon as possible. The student can use a spare device while waiting for the repair,” explains Lien Storms. The proactive WpaaS policy means enough working laptops are always in stock.

The school can easily install and manage the laptops using Intune, a cloud-based management tool from Microsoft for mobile devices. “In the end, the high-quality and complete service offered by Inetum-Realdolmen drove our choice. Their WpaaS provides us with much more than just the laptops,” concludes the ICT manager.