IT & Software

Software

At WHSG we strive to support multi-platform users at minimal costs by ensuring that the applications we provide are available for Linux, Windows and MAC based users where-ever possible.

To aid with this WHSG is a supporter of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) All student desktop PCs have numerous office suites, desktop publishing applications, media players, video/music editors, web browsers and programming editors. This includes (but is not limited to): Audacity, Blender, LibreOffice, GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP), Inkscape, Scratch, Scribus, Spyder3, Sweet Home 3D, Wings 3D and much more (To find out more click on the relevant application).

All WHSG student desktop PCs are powered by openSUSE Linux (which is particularly beneficial to the computing studies students). Using Linux provides a stable platform which is secure, reliable and can be up-dated on a regular basis with ease.

The schools official document standards are .odf (open document format which includes: .odt, .ods, .odp, .odg, .odf), .pdf and .html. To ensure that work is completed in an open document standard it is strongly recommended that students use the freely available office suite, LibreOffice. This includes many applications such as text document, spreedsheet file, presentation file, illustration/graphic document, database and mathematical equation creation packages. A copy can be downloaded from https://www.libreoffice.org/ for Windows, MAC and Linux platforms.

We currently provide numerous web based facilities including:

Microsoft Office 365: Provides users access to E-Mail, cloud collaboration packages and storage.

Google Classroom: Provides users access to class resources and homework tasks.

Hardware

WHSG boasts over 300 Intel Desktop PCs, 30 MACs and whole school Wi-Fi coverage supporting BYOD (Bring Your Own Device).

All students are given their own personal logon credentials for the school wired and wireless networks whereby they can bring in and use (if permitted) their own computing device (such as a laptop/tablet). 

To enhance the classroom experience all teaching rooms have either an interactive display or projector and Smartboard.

The school has also recently upgraded its Internet connection to a 1Gb link.

(For information regarding computer/Internet use/safety, please visit the schools policy webpage)