Brighton Secondary School, previously known as Brighton High School, is a public school located in North Brighton, a coastal suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. The school offers secondary education from year 7 to 12, along with special interest programmes in music, volleyball, ‘Think Bright’, and STEM. Entry into music and volleyball programmes is highly competitive, as auditions or tryouts are mandatory. Admission to Think Bright and STEM involves submitting a written application, attending a workshop, and having a conversation with the staff. The STEM programme has been discontinued starting in 2021, and the final class is set to graduate from the 3-year programme in 2022.
The school participates in F1 in Schools, an engineering programme originating from the United Kingdom. This programme aims to provide students with knowledge in engineering pathways, and the school’s teams have consistently participated in the national competition for the past three years.
In 2022, Brighton Secondary School has introduced a 3-year programme to transition from being an Apple-based school to a Windows-based school. Students in years 7-9 will be equipped with lower-end AMD Ryzen based Windows 10 Home laptops, while students in years 10-12 will receive higher-end AMD Ryzen based Windows 10 Home laptops. It is projected that the transition to a Windows environment will be finalised by 2024. These laptops are offered by the South Australian Government Department for Education and Child Development. Students have the option to finance the laptops over 3 years or pay upfront. Once the 3-year billing cycle ends for both laptops, the student will take ownership of the devices.
In the past, Brighton Secondary School was recognised as an Apple Distinguished School. Students in Year 8 and 9 had to buy an Apple iPad, while students in Year 10 to Year 12 received a region-locked MacBook Air that they could finance over 3 years or pay for upfront. Upon completion of Year 12, the student would have ownership of the MacBook; otherwise, it would be returned to the Department of Education.
Significant parts of the school’s operations, such as textbooks and work submission, are conducted digitally instead of on paper, although certain lessons still necessitate physical textbooks, worksheets, or books.
According to the Digital Learning Policy, the school is authorised to monitor and publicly showcase information on the student’s iPad, MacBook, or Windows laptop. Students’ screens can be displayed on any of the large screens in the school at any given moment. This task can be easily completed upon the teacher’s request or by utilising the necessary Apple Classroom or Meraki Mobile Device Management apps. Cisco Meraki’s MDM offers a feature that allows users to view the real-time location of the device. The school monitors, filters, and logs all internet usage of any device on its network using Meraki systems and CyberHound software. CyberHound’s capability to eliminate HTTPS security from webpages (SSL Stripping) and substitute it with a fake certificate (a Man-in-the-Middle attack) enables the school to discreetly monitor any particular searches or passwords the student enters.