Calton Hill parents find classes compute

An information technology project completed at a Dunedin primary school recently has not only helped pupils and parents "get online", it has helped connect the school community, staff and organisers say.

About 20 parents of Calton Hill School pupils last week received certificates and personal computers showing they had completed computer training through the Computers in Homes (CIH) scheme.

In recent months, parents joined their children for 20 hours of training to learn a range of computing skills.

School principal Glenda Jack said families would take the personal computers home and these would assist pupils with homework.

Parents would also be able to access useful sites, such as Internet banking, she said.

"We've seen some people coming to school with their children to do training . . . we don't usually see that often, particularly the fathers.

It was very rewarding to see them learning together," Mrs Jack said.

Parents with computing degrees had tutored the groups and would help families with installation and technical support.

At the ceremony, CIH national co-ordinator Di Das said the scheme was "as much about getting families to work together as it was about getting children to work with computers".

Nationally, the organisation had provided about 4000 families of pupils at low-decile schools with computers since the scheme started in 2000.

CIH gained funding from Ministry of Education, charitable trusts and corporate sponsors.

Mrs Jack said extracurricular activities such as the CIH scheme, Pacific Island culture classes, kapa haka classes, and music lessons for pupils, had corresponded with roll growth.

There were now 71 pupils at the school, up from 62 in March.