Kiwiown’s donation of Chromebooks to Ferguson Intermediate brings joy to ex pupil

Binary Blakelock didn’t think she’d be back at her old intermediate school as she left in 2012 and is now working in sales and customer service. However, this week positive memories flooded back as she visited Ferguson Intermediate to help present five HP Chromebooks, donated by her employer, Kiwiown Limited.

“It was one of the best experiences of my life to address the whole school- all 400 pupils!” she said. To speak to a crowded assembly is a massive achievement for her as she found public speaking a great source of anxiety when she was younger. She rates the caring staff at the school, especially her favourite teacher the late Mr Joseph Pauvale, as key to helping her build her confidence through coaching and positive reinforcement. Her uncle, the late Mr Pena Tamamasui who died last year, was Deputy Principal and teacher at the school for a number of years, so her return to Ferguson Intermediate was bittersweet.

Laurence Pope, Chief Executive of Greenfield Global trading as Kiwiown, was delighted to be able to donate the Chromebooks to a school that was connected to one of his team.

“ We are encouraging our team to nominate organisations that could benefit from donated product in the communities that we serve. Having Binary’s old school as one of our first recipients was magic”.

The Chromebooks will assist the school to be able to provide a “one between two” resource in classrooms. Ferguson Intermediate Principal, Mr Ronnie Govender said that they couldn’t enforce a bring your own device policy at the school because parents simply couldn’t afford them. Instead they provided as many devices as they could with their limited budget and fundraising to enable two pupils to share a device in class, giving them much needed access to digital learning.

“Having an extra five devices will make all the difference to us as we had to retire a number of units last year, so it means we don’t have to find additional budget for 2020”.

The Decile 1 school has high expectations for all students in terms of commitment to their school work and participation in the many cultural groups that represent the largely Maori and Pasifika school role.