HSC students in Penrith City schools will be giving toddlers in local child care centres early access to computers thanks to an innovative program to recycle old Council PCs.The program aims to tap into the need for vocational experience for HSC students and it will provide a minimum cost solution to delivering learning IT opportunities to all of Council’s child care centres.
It commenced in early February to coincide with the beginning of the school year.The idea was developed by Penrith City Council’s IT department and the Department of Education and Training, to meet requests to find a solution to the shortage of genuine work placement opportunities for students studying vocational HSC courses.
“The schools will run the program as if it were a real business, with students repairing the computers for reuse, discussing IT needs of the client (child care centre), researching software, installing the required programs, as well as support for the centres,” said Penrith Mayor, Councillor Pat Sheehy.
Council’s Children’s Services Manager, Denise Gibson, said the program will provide an early introduction of IT based learning resources to complement existing educational resources.
“Without any impact on our budgets, this program will provide the hardware, skills, expertise and back up support needed to provide a whole new resource for learning,” she said. “It will enable us to be at the forefront of early learning literacy practices.”
For further information contact Penrith City Council’s IT Manager, Richard Baczelis, on (02) 4732 7876.
