EDWARD Arnold Jayne was sitting in a Fletcher classroom when he made his first visit to the French capital’s cobblestone streets.
Bishop Tyrrell Anglican College students guided Mr Jayne – who was a sales representative for L'Oréal Paris for 50 years and owns a model of the Eiffel Tower – through the City of Lights on Google Street View.
The school’s year 11 Information and Digital Technology students have started meeting once a term with Anglican Care residents to teach them about computers and the Internet, as part of the iTea program.
The school’s food technology or hospitality students cook savoury and sweet treats.
“I don’t have a computer or a tablet and I wouldn’t do it [go online], but this was fantastic,” Mr Jayne said.
“Plus we didn’t have to deal with all the tourists!”
Education: the Newcastle Herald
Anglican Care lifestyle, wellbeing and diversity manager Jane Meldrum said residents relished the opportunity to both chat with young people and learn more about how to use the Internet to communicate with their loved ones.
“A lot of our residents don’t have younger family members who visit, so this fills part of that connectedness between older and younger people, the socialisation,” Ms Meldrum said.
“Many of them like to see the houses where they used to live, including one man who was able to see his home in Italy.”
The school’s head of technological and applied studies and visual arts Mitchell Cummings said the program was “taking the IT nous the students have and doing something really good with it”.
“IT support is often quite clinical but it also needs to be relational.
“This is real world application of those skills.”
Helen Gregory
Helen Gregory joined the Newcastle Herald in 2010. She is the masthead’s education reporter and has written for the H2 and Weekender sections, as well as across a range of issues. Helen is a Walkley Award winning journalist and was also part of the Newcastle Herald team that won the United Nations World Environment Day Media Award for Environmental Reporting.
Helen Gregory joined the Newcastle Herald in 2010. She is the masthead’s education reporter and has written for the H2 and Weekender sections, as well as across a range of issues. Helen is a Walkley Award winning journalist and was also part of the Newcastle Herald team that won the United Nations World Environment Day Media Award for Environmental Reporting.
