Apple has debuted a new 9.7-inch iPad with Pencil, which is aimed at students, as well as several apps aimed at helping students and teachers make the most of the Apple gear that schools buy.

Apple Field Trip event: What was announced?

A new iPad 9.7 is here

The iPad comes with Touch ID, camera, GPS+LTE support, and Apple Pencil compatibility (now available to schools for $79/£89). It runs Apple's own A10 Fusion processor and boasts the familiar 10 hours of iPad battery life. The iPad comes in silver, space grey, and a new gold finish and starts at £319 ($329 and $299 for schools) for the 32GB with Wi-Fi model and £449 ($459) for the 32GB Wi-Fi + Cellular model.

Vodafone and EE have confirmed they will be stocking the new model. 

New iWork apps with Pencil support

Apple also announced new versions of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote - all of which support Apple Pencil and come with new collaborative features, including the ability for teachers to mark submitted homework using iOS. 

Everyone Can Create helps teachers plan

Apple also announced several other educational initiatives. Everyone Can Create is a new, free curriculum that makes it simple for teachers to integrate drawing, music, filmmaking, or photography into existing lesson plans. Everyone Can Create includes teacher and student guides, lessons, ideas, and examples. During the spring, Apple Stores will begin teaching Everyone Can Create as part of their regular sessions.

It's designed to slot in alongside Apple's Everyone Can Code initiative.

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Apple

Schoolwork app

Apple also announced Schoolwork, a new app that helps teachers create assignments, see student progress, and tap into the power of apps in the classroom. Teachers can have a snapshot of each student’s overall class performance and can check on students’ app activities and progress on their assignments. The app includes Handouts, an easy way to create and send assignments with almost any type of content.

Teachers can also assign a specific activity within an app and direct their students directly to the specific point within the app - clever stuff. Schoolwork is basically designed to work alongside Apple’s Classroom app to integrate iPad into the classroom, and existing education apps are already integrating support for Schoolwork using Apple's ClassKit code for developers. 

Classroom comes to the Mac 

The Classroom app for Mac is designed so teachers can manage student iPads and guide pupils through lessons. They can even view what students are doing on screen. Apple also said that every teacher or student with a Managed Apple ID has access to 200GB of free iCloud storage.

Classroom will be available in beta from June. 

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Apple

Apple Field Trip event: Watch the show

Here's the official footage from the show:  

 

You can also head to Apple's website and watch the show from there.

Apple Field Trip event: Watch the trailers

During the Field Trip event, Apple premiered a few different trailers and promo videos. Here they are: 

Apple Field Trip event: What we expected

We were thinking a new entry-level iPad, possibly new MacBooks (including a MacBook Air replacement?), and an upgraded Apple Pencil (compatible with the new iPad). We didn't think we'd get a new iPad Pro at this stage - that will most likely be later in the year when we're expecting the iPad Pro to get Face ID.Just keep in mind this is Apple's first education-only event for several years. 

Looking back at past springtime or "special" events, Apple announced new Macs just once. However, there are rumours of an entry-level MacBook or MacBook Air in the works, and we wondered if there was a credible education focus there. Since the company didn't unveil any new laptops at its March event, we could expect them to show up in June, when Apple holds its annual developer conference.

After all, it did refresh the iMac range and introduce a new iMac Pro at last year's WWDC. Anyway, we were also expecting the announcement of a release date for the AirPower mat. Alongside this, we were expecting a wireless version of the AirPod charging case that will enable the AirPods to charge with AirPower. As for iPad announcements, two new iPads are rumoured to land in retail stores soon.

For more leaks and rumours and clues about what might surface at June's developer conference, see Pocket-lint's complete guide to WWDC 2018.