Milestone-3+Goal+4

Family and whanau understand the importance and place of ICT in preparing students for future focused learning
 * School actively promotes ways in which family and whanau can access and interact with their child’s learning.
 * Family and whanau connect and interact with their child’s learning online.

__**Home and school connecting with Study Ladder:**__
 * Lead teacher introduced the interactive website Study Ladder to staff and students. This website can be used at school and home to promote and enhance literacy and numeracy skills. Each student was issued with a unique username and password which is used at school and home. Teachers are able to choose activities which support their classroom learning and they are also able to monitor children's progress at school and home.
 * As only 30% of the students have access to the internet at home, teachers are providing access to school computers where parents and students can interact with guidance where necessary. Those parents with internet access can continue to support their child's learning in the home environment.
 * __Reflecting on this initiative__:
 * Teachers are monitoring students use of the programme both at home and at school and are able to leave constructive messages for individuals to help improve their use of the site.
 * Parents are returning with their children to support them in their use of the programme.



__Computers in Homes__ On the 27th of September eleven of our parents started computer lessons after school. They are tutored by our IT technician and supported by one of our teacher aides. After they have completed 20 hours of training (2 hours once a week for 10 weeks) they are given a computer, 6 months technical support and 6 months broadband. The computer is being presented by the Mayor on the last afternoon. This programme is funded by an organisation called "Computers in Homes" and they are using our school as a pilot for our area. Most of the parents have no experience at all with a computer and lessons have started with turning it on, using the internet, writing a word document and saving a photo to a folder. As a result of this initiative 30 more children will have access to a computer at home.

__Reflecting on this initiative__
 * Children will be able use the skills they have learnt at school at home. Research on the internet will be able to be done at home to support classroom learning.
 * Parents have upskilled so they can understand what their children are doing and use ICT themselves.
 * As a Decile 1 school, poverty is a factor that hinders children's access to technology. Having it provided by the school has enabled 11 families to own a computer and have broadband acess.
 * It is great to have the school full of people on Tuesday evenings learning new skills and sharing in their children's education.