8:50am Monday 15th March 2010
By Emily Roberts
A SCHOOL has spent £100,000 on new technology including Nintendo DS, Wii Fit and video cameras after achieving specialist status.
Students and staff at Everest Community College held a celebratory evening and were joined by guests, including Basingstoke MP Maria Miller, to launch the new E-Pod room.
The school, in Oxford Way, Popley, Basingstoke, was awarded specialist status in mathematics and computing, and given £100,000 to pay for new facilities to help develop this specialism even further.
Pupils will be able to record and edit their own films, use brain training in their maths lessons and work on iMac computers in the E-Pod room, which is designed to boost their learning potential.
The school is now sponsored by Toshiba and the University of Winchester.
Director of specialism Deborah McCarthy said: “This is a really unique facility. Our students are very fortunate and we can expand on these facilities even further and make it world class. As a teacher, it’s fantastic to work in, and the children think it’s great.”
Head teacher Julie Rose said the new facilities would help pupils with their future careers.
She added: “It’s another innovative way of engaging children in their learning.
“The careers they will have will be within technology of some aspect. They will compete against children from other countries who are already way ahead of us with technology. There’s always going to be a learning aspect to it and the technology can link to English, maths, science and IT.”
Everest was the last secondary school in Basingstoke to be given specialist status. It was awarded in September last year after the school proved it was leading the way in mathematics and computing.
Specialist status is a Government-backed scheme to help schools work in partnership with private sector sponsors. Specialist schools receive additional support from Government funding to establish a distinctive identity through their chosen specialism.
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