Innovative teachers recognised in NSW Parliament

This month, NSW Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, the Hon Richard Torbay MP recognised the important contribution of teachers including those in his electorate of Northern Tablelands which participated in Microsoft’s Innovative Teachers Award.

Below is an excerpt of the statement made in the NSW Parliament on 3 December 2008 by Mr Torbay:

“Today I bring to the attention of the House an e-program generated from Drummond Memorial School in Armidale, which engages 35 of these gifted and talented primary school students from 11 schools in the region. The program is called eGATS—electronic gifted and talented students— and involves Armidale City, Newling, Tamworth South, Wytaliba, Walcha Central, Nowendoc, Attunga, Mallawa, Burren Junction, Uralla Central and Drummond schools.

The program was devised in-house at Drummond Memorial School following the success of an earlier interactive e-program, Partners in Learning. This linked 70 Aboriginal and isolated rural students from three other primary schools—Niangila, Yarrawich and Rocky River—to Drummond students. The program was a joint initiative between Microsoft and the Department of Education and Training. Michael Wilson, who teaches at Drummond, used the school's Microsoft SharePoint 2.0 to deliver the program and has adjusted it for eGATS.

The school is fortunate to have his services, which were recognised when he took out this year's Excellence in the Integration of ICT Award and the Microsoft Scholarship for 2009.”  To read the entire statement click here