Click photo to enlarge
Calton Hill School pupils Jessica (7) and Renee (8) Carson
show their mother Lorraine's certificate at the Computers
in Homes scheme graduation ceremony, held recently at the
school. Photo by Craig Baxter.
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.
