A Thornton school founded for children with autism will hold a series of workshops on using iPads.
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The tablets form an important part of Aspect Hunter School’s educational program because most of the students are visual learners and the workshops will target parents and grandparents.
“We run a lot of research programs in school on the effectiveness of iPads in learning,” assistant principal Amy Kennedy said.
“We really wanted to take our knowledge of iPads and their usefulness out into the community.”
Financial institution CUA has backed the workshops with a $5000 grant.
Schools across the region and the state applied for a share of the money and the voting public decided who would receive the grants.
Aspect received more votes than the six other schools in the greater Newcastle area and was the only school to apply for funds to deliver an external program instead of directly benefitting the students.
The workshops will be rolled out within a month and will focus on choosing educational apps and choosing security settings to protect children from harmful content.
The workshops will have the added benefit of boosting awareness of the autism spectrum of disorders that affect people’s learning and social abilities.
“Sometimes there is a lack of understanding about how [autism] affects children and families,” Mrs Kennedy said.
“We often try and raise awareness about autism.”
CUA Newcastle branch manager Heidi Murray said the response to the 2014 Community Care program had been incredible.
“We are delighted to present the $5000 grant to Aspect Hunter School to go towards their iPad project and hope the community gets value and enjoyment out of it for many years to come,” she said.
CUA has distributed more than $230,000 to school projects in the past four years as part of the School Fun-Run program, which is an alternative to junk food fund-raisers.
Aspect Hunter School was founded in co-operation between land developers Hilton Grugeon and Richard Owens with government funding for the school and childcare centre.
The school caters to more than 100 students across the region aged four to 16.