NZ’s largest primary school latest recipient of Chromebooks from Kiwiown

Finlayson Park is unique in a number of ways. Not only is it New Zealand’s largest primary school with a role of 1000 students, it is the country’s only bi-lingual education school, teaching students in several different languages.

“Our philosophy is to have a curriculum where our students learn primarily in their first language as they make strides more quickly, and then in English. Our teaching methods have generated great results for our students and we are a reference site for other educators who visit us from all over the world” says school principal Shirley Maihi, QSM.
Students can learn in Te Reo Maori, Samoan, Tongan, Mandarin, Kiribati and English. However, students who present with other languages are encouraged to use those languages to enhance the learning of English more quickly.

The school rarely receives donations for ICT equipment so she was delighted when Kiwiown approached them to donate 5 new HP Chromebooks to add to their classroom resources.

A warm welcome was organised for Laurence Pope, Chief Executive of Kiwiown and his team as they presented the Chromebooks to students. In keeping with the school culture, three students addressed the visitors, one in Te Reo, another in Samoan and finally one of their special needs students in English, followed by a spirited chorus from students.

“ We were blown away, it was such a humbling experience” he commented. It brought back memories of Pope’s limited school career. He told students that he didn’t get a chance to finish school and instead his grandfather saved up and bought him his first computer. He taught himself how to use it and started his first company when he was 11 years of age fixing computers. His advice was for pupils to stay in school and get a qualification because he knows it would have been an easier journey for him if he had done the same.