Surface at Godolphin
and Latymer

This year, the device changed. Almost nothing else did. Here is what moved, what did not, and how to do the things you have asked us about.

What has changedI am stuck on something

What has changed

The apps became tabs

This year is about the device. You have moved from an iPad to a Surface. Your lessons, your classes and your work have not moved.

Google Classroom, Google Drive, Docs, Slides and Sheets are exactly where they were and work exactly as they did, all the way through this school year. What has changed is how you reach them. On your iPad each one was an app you tapped. On your Surface they all live in one place.

Everything Google is now in Google Chrome

  • Google Classroom
  • Google Drive
  • Docs, Slides and Sheets
  • Quizlet

On your iPad each of these was its own app. On your Surface you open Chrome and they are all there, signed in with your school account.

Two things changed to a different app

Mail

Your school email is in Outlook, on your Surface or at outlook.office.com

Notability

Your notes are in OneNote, and we have already moved them across

It is the same software doing the same job. Only the way in is different.

Where your work saves

Google Drive and OneDrive, and which is which

Google Drive

Your Google work

  • Anything you make in Docs, Slides or Sheets saves here
  • It saves automatically, exactly as it always has
  • This is where your work has always lived, and it still is

OneDrive

Your Microsoft work

  • Anything you make in Word, PowerPoint or Excel saves here
  • It saves automatically too
  • Word, PowerPoint and Excel are installed on your Surface

You can use both, and it is entirely up to you. You can carry on making everything in Docs, Slides and Sheets exactly as before. If you do choose to use Word, PowerPoint or Excel, you can upload those files to Google Classroom from your Surface. The only thing worth remembering is which is which.

Looking further ahead

What happens after this year

Nothing else changes this academic year. Google Classroom and Google Drive continue throughout 2026/27, for staff as well as students.

In the longer term the school will move to Microsoft Teams for Education. That will not happen this academic year.

When it does happen, Google Classroom classes will be archived rather than deleted, and all of your materials will be transferred for you.

If something is not working

Drop-in sessions

Lunchtime sessions run 21 to 25 September, every lunchtime between 1.30pm and 2.00pm, in C3 in the Brooke building.

Visit IT Support

You are welcome to come and see the IT team in the IT Office, opposite C3 in the Brooke building, between 7am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

Raise a ticket

You can create an IT ticket at any time by emailing ICTHelp@godolphinandlatymer.com, and a member of the team will get back to you.

You do not need to have tried everything first.