Online fundraiser count down
We're sitting at $6,031 - which means we've raised enough for 5 desktop computers and four tablets!
There's still time to help by pledging or sharing. We would really love to raise a further $1,469 so that we'll have enough tablets for 1 per classroom.
Tablets are the cheapest type of computer ($250 each), and have additional features that allow multimedia creation including video, photos, and sound recording. Tablets will have priority use by students with special learning needs, with secondary use for class multimedia projects.
Ways to pledge:
If you can't pledge via the website & paypal (preferred), please download this Pledge Form and pay by direct deposit, cheque, or cash.
Why raising this money for new technology is so important: The new Australian Curriculum places development of student technology skills as a requirement alongside other skills such as literacy and numeracy, and the new Minister for Education has indicated an intention to make the NAPLAN an online test from next year - both these things are difficult when our school has on average only 4 aging computers per classroom.
Goals
The school identified that the first priority was to raise $5,000 for five desktop computers, and that the next technology priority is 10 tablets (one per classroom, $250 each).
The primary use of these tablets will be for students with special learning needs, with secondary use by classes for integrated learning including creation of digital works such as videos, photos, sound recordings, animation, ebooks, digital artwork.
The next priority in the school technology plan is 34 notebooks ($500 each) for a mobile computer lab - which will allow a teacher to do an integrated technology lesson to a whole class.
Spreading the word:
There's still time to spread the word, to help us get more pledges.
Whether it's talking to family and friends, or talking to local businesses, or approaching media, commenting on blog posts, letters to the editor, letter boxing flyers, asking organisations that have a mailing list or blog or social media account if they could mention the school fundraiser.
If you don't feel comfortable asking for money, that's okay, please consider asking people if they can help in other ways that are no trouble to them - such as if a cafe will let you put up a poster, or if an organisation can tweet the link. There are images, posters, and flyers available to share or download on the P&C blog
Another way to spread the word is indirectly, by talking or writing to media and bloggers about the issues related to the fundraiser - such as how the Education Minister is talking about taking NAPLAN online, but that would mean our school would need about 80 computers for year 3 & 5 students - which we simply don't have.
Other talking topics might be the new Australian Curriculum that requires development of technology (ICT) skills yet the lack of funding for computers makes it hard for teachers to teach it; the inadequacy of the new NSW model of funding public schools which is still leaving many public schools underfunded, etc. Just find a way to mention that our school is trying to work around these problems with the fundraiser - and give them the link.
Let's put in a last burst of effort over the next four days - see how much we can raise!
