In their "most significant technology purchase" ever, Gunnedah South Public School has bought laptops for every single one of their 600 plus students.
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The mammoth task, funded with $62,000 from the P&C, was then coordinated in a huge Easter weekend of delivering the laptops along with school and holiday work-packs.
Amy Perfrement, P&C president, and Principal Pete Baum known as 'Mr B', discussed what it would take to ensure every student had access to the same technology from school to support at home learning.
"What we had to do was clear, we needed enough computers to ensure every child was on the same playing field and staff could focus on working on one delivery platform," Mr B explained.
The school executive team quickly worked out that their technology plan for the next four years needed to be consolidated into just three weeks with an additional 400 student laptops immediately required.
At the P&C Zoom extraordinary meeting members unanimously supported the significant purchase.
They contributed every last drop in the kitty - a massive $62,000.
The money was previously being saved to install a multi-court for the students however in the current climate, they agreed learning was of the highest priority.
Mrs Perfrement said the P&C was grateful to all current and past members as well as community donations.
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"It's a small team that pulls these things off that benefits a huge number of the school community," she said.
"When we do put money back into the school, want to make sure it benefits as many children as possible - and that's why this funding for laptops really fit the bill for us - especially with distance education being the norm for the foreseeable future."
Mr B said this request was for children's learning so this also fitted perfectly with the school's focus.
"This request was not made lightly and had the full backing of the entire School Executive Team at Gunnedah South and our Education Director Mark Young," Mr B explained.
Every staff member has contributed and gone above and beyond to ensure our students continue to receive the best education in NSW.
- Pete Baum
"Our reason for requesting backing from our amazing P&C was simple, we highly value community input and also needed to ensure learning could happen in the best possible way for every student."
A team of school staff worked extremely long hours including all weekend to ensure every device was ready to go out on Easter Saturday, with student work packs and holiday packs for every child.
"The dedication staff showed to ensuring our students were ready was unreal," Mr B said.
"Every staff member has contributed and gone above and beyond to ensure our students continue to receive the best education in NSW."
