Thu, Sep 29, 2022 5:00 AM
Computers for kids a hit
YEAR 7 and 8 students Kelissa Brill and Jonty Verry enjoyed doing maths and languages on their Chromebooks.
Paul Charman
THANKS to a $50,000 donation from a Te Kūiti couple, Mike and Linda Gill several years ago, the Waitomo District Education Trust has been quietly assisting local families to acquire computers for their children’s education.
Trust chairperson and former Piopio Primary principal Neil Brooks said Mike and Linda (parents of Dr Caitlin Gill), had the vision to see a real gap in education locally.
“Mike and Linda decided to ease the process of putting devices into the hands of families who otherwise might not get to equip their children with these,” Neil said.
“During the past few years, many primary schools in the Waitomo District have been experimenting with digital technology, especially notebooks and iPads, in classrooms.
“Teachers have observed increased student engagement, and in some cases improved academic achievement where the devices are used. And thanks to the Government, most schools now have unlimited ultra-fast broadband.”
But Neil pointed out that the biggest gains had been observed where each child had their own device.
NO FUN SHARING
“As you might have experienced, it’s not much use, or fun, sharing a laptop.
“The trouble is our schools cannot afford a device for each student and, in a relatively hard-up region like ours, cannot reasonably insist on BYOD [bring your own device[ without giving assistance to families who cannot otherwise afford the one-off cost.”
Since state schools could not legally extend credit, this put schools in the district wanting to move to one student, one device, in a difficult position.
Hence a group of interested people decided to step up to help to solve the impasse.
They set up the Waitomo District Education Trust the trust as a not-for-profit registered charity. Trustees were the retired principal of St Joseph’s Primary, Sibyll Iremonger, Hilary Karaitiana, Sarah McElroy and Neil.
HAND UP FOR FAMILIES
“Our main aim is to provide families cheap loans to buy digital devices for students’ learning and to join with schools to bulk buy devices, resulting in savings for everyone,” Neil said.
“It is a hand up to those families who wish to make use of it, rather than a handout.”
The most popular devices, Chromebooks, cost about $540 in 2022, Neil said.
“Our aim will be to lower the cost in future years by reducing the insurance and extra warranty costs.
“Participating schools will be expected to have a strategic plan that shows how these digital devices can make a difference to their learners and also shows how these devices are managed on a day-to-day basis.
“The trust also intends to promote collaboration between participating schools to enhance teacher capability in digital learning.
EXPRESSED INTEREST
“At this stage, five schools have expressed an interest in being involved next year.”
Neil said despite being born with a donation of $50,000, current forecasts suggested that about $100,000 would be needed to provide support to the five interested schools, with significantly more required to extend support to all schools in the district if that was desired.
“We are planning to invite more schools to participate if all goes well and we have sufficient funds to do so. Of course, the major uncertainty is the default rate on the loans and only time will tell what that will be. The experience of similar trusts around the country suggests it will be under 20% and we would hope that in our district it will be well below that figure.”
Neil hoped local people would support see the potential of the initiative and support it.
“Every donation will be tax deductible and we see this as an important investment in the future of our District. Please help us make it a reality.”
Meanwhile, a visit to Te Kūiti Primary School last week showed the Chromebooks had become a big hit there.
STUDENTS LOVING IT
Year 7 and 8 students Kelissa Brill and Jonty Verry said they enjoyed doing maths and languages on the devices.
Kelissa said the teacher could track what children in the class were doing on their Chromebooks at any time, which was helpful.
When it came to school speeches students were not encouraged to take their books home, in case they got left behind.
“But with Chromebook I can take my speech home and practice it there more easily. It’s not a problem to pack them up and take them to school every day and they have protective cases which keeps them safe. Remembering to pack up charger leads was a bit harder sometimes.”
Like Kelissa, Jonty found working on his Chromebook more fun than writing in a workbook.
The devises gave him and his classmates access to useful education apps, which helped them with maths and English and even awarded them points for studying.
“The teachers can drop in on you and make sure you’re not playing games.”
The children’s teacher Kandice Newlands was in no doubt that the Chromebooks brought significant benefits for education.
Kandice observed that they helped many students become more engaged in what they were doing and assisted them in several areas, one being research. Also, they got used to down what information they needed directly from the internet, without printing out reams of paper.
ADDITIONAL PROGRAMME
“There’s even an educational programme that teaches the children coding; they learn how to code their own little games or animations. And can take that further.
“It’s great to see children learning so rapidly; some of them end up knowing more about their devices than I do.”
Kandice said though some of the children in her class still preferred to work from a textbook, there was no doubt the Chromebooks were “an awesome tool”.
Trust chairperson and former Piopio Primary principal Neil Brooks said Mike and Linda (parents of Dr Caitlin Gill), had the vision to see a real gap in education locally.
“Mike and Linda decided to ease the process of putting devices into the hands of families who otherwise might not get to equip their children with these,” Neil said.
“During the past few years, many primary schools in the Waitomo District have been experimenting with digital technology, especially notebooks and iPads, in classrooms.
“Teachers have observed increased student engagement, and in some cases improved academic achievement where the devices are used. And thanks to the Government, most schools now have unlimited ultra-fast broadband.”
But Neil pointed out that the biggest gains had been observed where each child had their own device.
NO FUN SHARING
“As you might have experienced, it’s not much use, or fun, sharing a laptop.
“The trouble is our schools cannot afford a device for each student and, in a relatively hard-up region like ours, cannot reasonably insist on BYOD [bring your own device[ without giving assistance to families who cannot otherwise afford the one-off cost.”
Since state schools could not legally extend credit, this put schools in the district wanting to move to one student, one device, in a difficult position.
Hence a group of interested people decided to step up to help to solve the impasse.
They set up the Waitomo District Education Trust the trust as a not-for-profit registered charity. Trustees were the retired principal of St Joseph’s Primary, Sibyll Iremonger, Hilary Karaitiana, Sarah McElroy and Neil.
HAND UP FOR FAMILIES
“Our main aim is to provide families cheap loans to buy digital devices for students’ learning and to join with schools to bulk buy devices, resulting in savings for everyone,” Neil said.
“It is a hand up to those families who wish to make use of it, rather than a handout.”
The most popular devices, Chromebooks, cost about $540 in 2022, Neil said.
“Our aim will be to lower the cost in future years by reducing the insurance and extra warranty costs.
“Participating schools will be expected to have a strategic plan that shows how these digital devices can make a difference to their learners and also shows how these devices are managed on a day-to-day basis.
“The trust also intends to promote collaboration between participating schools to enhance teacher capability in digital learning.
EXPRESSED INTEREST
“At this stage, five schools have expressed an interest in being involved next year.”
Neil said despite being born with a donation of $50,000, current forecasts suggested that about $100,000 would be needed to provide support to the five interested schools, with significantly more required to extend support to all schools in the district if that was desired.
“We are planning to invite more schools to participate if all goes well and we have sufficient funds to do so. Of course, the major uncertainty is the default rate on the loans and only time will tell what that will be. The experience of similar trusts around the country suggests it will be under 20% and we would hope that in our district it will be well below that figure.”
Neil hoped local people would support see the potential of the initiative and support it.
“Every donation will be tax deductible and we see this as an important investment in the future of our District. Please help us make it a reality.”
Meanwhile, a visit to Te Kūiti Primary School last week showed the Chromebooks had become a big hit there.
STUDENTS LOVING IT
Year 7 and 8 students Kelissa Brill and Jonty Verry said they enjoyed doing maths and languages on the devices.
Kelissa said the teacher could track what children in the class were doing on their Chromebooks at any time, which was helpful.
When it came to school speeches students were not encouraged to take their books home, in case they got left behind.
“But with Chromebook I can take my speech home and practice it there more easily. It’s not a problem to pack them up and take them to school every day and they have protective cases which keeps them safe. Remembering to pack up charger leads was a bit harder sometimes.”
Like Kelissa, Jonty found working on his Chromebook more fun than writing in a workbook.
The devises gave him and his classmates access to useful education apps, which helped them with maths and English and even awarded them points for studying.
“The teachers can drop in on you and make sure you’re not playing games.”
The children’s teacher Kandice Newlands was in no doubt that the Chromebooks brought significant benefits for education.
Kandice observed that they helped many students become more engaged in what they were doing and assisted them in several areas, one being research. Also, they got used to down what information they needed directly from the internet, without printing out reams of paper.
ADDITIONAL PROGRAMME
“There’s even an educational programme that teaches the children coding; they learn how to code their own little games or animations. And can take that further.
“It’s great to see children learning so rapidly; some of them end up knowing more about their devices than I do.”
Kandice said though some of the children in her class still preferred to work from a textbook, there was no doubt the Chromebooks were “an awesome tool”.
