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Charmaine Driver, Principal, Darling Points Special School:
“I’m Charmaine Driver and I’m the principal here at Darling Points Special School at Manly.
We have 110 students on the roll at the moment from prep to year 12.
Today Minister Langbroek came to visit our school and his particular interest was around
the use of the iPads with the children and teenagers here.”
John-Paul Langbroek, Minister for Education, Training & Education:
“Today Neil Symes and I, the Member of Lytton, are here at Darling Point Special School to
actually see the iPads in action that we’ve promised and are now delivering to special
schools and special ed units across the state. TwentyiPads for every special school (and
I think there are 43) and 10 for each of the schools delivering a special ed program (and
there are 590 of those) so altogether nearly 7000 iPads at a cost of $3,500,000.”
Charmaine Driver, Principal, Darling Points Special School:
“The apps are being used to teach literacy and numeracy. The iPads are simpler to use,
they’re much more typical of the sort of technologies the students here would see their
brothers and sisters using, and they would see their parents using this technology. Whereas
in the past often we would be having more adaptive devices that looked different, felt
different, and often were quite complicated. We’re finding (the teachers are finding)
easier interface with the curriculum particularly around literacy and numeracy.
One of the interesting things that the teachers were finding here with the iPads is the number
and range and variety of apps. That can itself can be a challenge for teachers but the benefit
of it is that teachers who know their students well, as all of the teachers here do, can
personalise the iPad for particular students. That way the learning and teaching experience
is very much individualised and appropriate to the individual targets and goals of the
children.”