Education

Waikaretu School celebrates edtech success

<h2>Waikaretu School on the west coast of the North Island has beat off competition from Trans-Tasman schools to become one of the 17 successful winners of the Promethean Grant 2018&period;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>With entries from both Australia and New Zealand&comma; Waikaretu School impressed the panel of judges and won a state-of-the-art education technology package worth &dollar;6000&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><amp-youtube data-videoid&equals;"FQhPa-Q&lowbar;VG8" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563"><&sol;amp-youtube><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>To participate in the Promethean Grant&comma; schools were encouraged to submit a video entry to explain why they would benefit from winning an ActivPanel&period; Judged on three criteria&comma; pupils had to display creativity&comma; explain their need for the technology and the impact that it would have on their school if they were successful&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-11485 aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;12&sol;Promethean-2-1024x768&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"618" height&equals;"464" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A total of five New Zealand schools have been chosen out of over 60 entries&period; The other winning schools were St Albans Catholic School in Christchurch&comma; Putaruru College and Auckland’s Mangere Bridge and Northcote Baptist Community Preschool&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Global education technology provider launched the Promethean Grant in Australia and New Zealand in 2017&period; Following the success of the 2017 Grant&comma; Promethean recognised an opportunity to offer schools a chance to once again get their hands on the technology&comma; despite facing increasing budgetary pressures&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-11484 aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;12&sol;Promethean-1-1024x768&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"618" height&equals;"464" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In their video entry&comma; which you can see <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;app&period;box&period;com&sol;file&sol;315628470238" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">above<&sol;a>&comma; Waikaretu School talked about how the small school had recently been split into two classrooms – leaving one group of students without access to interactive technology&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ron Baptist&comma; head teacher at Waikaretu School said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We are thrilled&excl; We are often overlooked as a small rural school so when our fundraising board member passed details of the competition on to me&comma; I thought that it was worth going for&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I’m really proud of the students for their collaborations&comma; their ideas and for presenting our story&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Alistair Hayward&comma; Head of UKI and ANZ Markets at Promethean&comma; commented&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Schools are facing increasing financial pressures and at the same time are expected to create and maintain successful learning environments&period; We are incredibly passionate about education and believe that all schools should be able to access the latest technology to enhance learning and teaching experiences&period; We saw an opportunity to help schools receive these Edtech packages whilst encouraging them to embrace their creativity&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Waikaretu School’s ActivPanel was installed in early November&period; The ActivPanel acts as an immersive and collaborative learning centre&comma; which will help teachers and pupils alike with their lessons&period; With the ability to connect with other learning devices&comma; such as laptops and tablets&comma; pupils will be able to share their work with the class and peer-assess&comma; alongside being able to utilise the multi-touch functionality for small groups&period; Promethean is looking forward to developing a partnership with the winning school to help them get the most out of the technology&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>To view the other winning school entries&comma; please visit&colon;<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>St Albans &&num;8211&semi; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;youtube&period;com&sol;watch&quest;v&equals;37uB69Piiyk" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;youtube&period;com&sol;watch&quest;v&equals;37uB69Piiyk<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Putaruru College <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;youtube&period;com&sol;watch&quest;v&equals;69JBcRfZER4" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;youtube&period;com&sol;watch&quest;v&equals;69JBcRfZER4<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mangere Bridge &&num;8211&semi; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;youtube&period;com&sol;watch&quest;v&equals;dfEk4sGgw28" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;youtube&period;com&sol;watch&quest;v&equals;dfEk4sGgw28<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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