My son's primary school encourages students to bring their own mobile device to school; from year four (which he will be next year) and up they operate on a 1:1 student:device ratio, whereby those who don't/can't bring their own device are provided one by the school. We are currently debating whether to purchase a device for him to use, lease one from the school, or just rely on the school to provide him with one.

I don't want this thread to be about the rights and wrongs of BYOD policies, the value of technology in the primary classroom, or the quality of teachers in NZ, as these topics have been more than covered in other such threads! As a parent and ex-teacher I am satisfied at the school's approach to how the devices are used in the classroom, end of story!

Rather, I was hoping for some practical advice on the options available to us.

The school has an agnostic approach to which devices it allows, but does encourage iPads (please, not that debate either!) as it simplifies their support needs and the model has proven its suitability/robustness in the classroom. The school provides a leasing option where for $40 upfront and $23  a month the kids can get a iPad Mini; the family also has the ability to purchase them outright at the end of the year, with the cost being the purchase cost to the school less the total of lease payments. The school will also cover the cost of any damage while the iPad's leased.

My primary concern with this is they're looking at providing iPad Mini 2s next year, which is now two generations behind the current model; given we're likey to take up the purchase at the end option if we go down this route, we'd like the device to still be useful to the kids in the next three-four years. Will this be the case with the Mini 2?

Other options I've considered are:

* buying a s/h iPad Air 32GB model - these appear to be better value s/h than a similarly aged iPad Mini.
* buying a s;h iPad Mini - but they don't make the more recent models in 32GB, and the s/h price seems to be relatively steep
* buying a new Android tablet - are there any recommendations as to what may be suitable for this purpose? Budget would be ideally no more than $500
* relying on the school to supply a device

(Note: the school doesn't recommend keyboard-based devices such as Chromebooks, as they find these orient the child to a primarily text-based usage of the device; in primary school, the devices aren't used to writing essays etc!)

I'd appreciate any (practical) feedback and ideas, especially from other parents who have faced the same dilemma.