St Joseph's Catholic school students use a variety of applications to assist with their reading and writing.

Rangiora schools are using technology to teach the writing skills some say it is responsible for diminishing.

St Joseph's Catholic school recently purchased five new iPads and four laptop computers with money raised through a spelling-bee, and principal Ben Gorman said they were useful tools in improving students' literacy.

"The littlies actually use some really good handwriting apps, where they write on the screen either with their finger or with a stylus and it's quite self-guided."

He said it was important to be able to teach the skills for new technology that children would grow up and use daily, but that he thought there was "some validity" in concerns about children's motor skills declining.

"Handwriting is still an essential skill that will always be taught during the first years. That's why, especially for the young kids, we're really targeting iPads, because essentially you're still using the same technique you would with a pen."

Gorman said the school's recent purchases meant they now had 24 iPads for a roll of 157 pupils and plans to upgrade existing computers next year would help St Joseph's catch up with larger Rangiora schools.

Rangiora Borough School had a roll of 595 and principal Alan Sutton estimated there was one device for every three students, and the school was "heading towards" one-in-two.

"We think the best solution is for children to have access to devices but not necessarily one personally of their own … We see them as a very good aid to learning, but at this stage we're not moving to bring-your-own-devices" he said.

Nearby, Ashgrove school would begin trialing a 'bring-your-own-device' system next term, and principal Christine Chadwick said she was feeling confident that it would prove itself valuable for pupils and teaching staff.

"It's not like we've got them on the devices all day, every day. That's not the purpose of why we've started bring-your-own-device.

"It's really around having the availability so every child in the classroom can have access when it's needed ... We can also monitor each of the devices being used on the school server and we're able to identify if there's been any misuse," Chadwick said.