Kooringal Public School was in the spotlight as students gave a taste of what 21st century learning looks like to their grandparents.
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Gone are the days where teachers ruled the class, nails were scratching the blackboard and fountain pens were used.
Chalkboards have been updated to whiteboards and smart boards, notebooks have been replaced with laptops and tablets and now there is greater communication between the teachers, students and parents.
Susan Blackett travelled all the way from Dubbo to spend the day with her nine-year-old grandson Noah Stirton.
“When I went to school we certainly didn’t have days like these or opportunities that are open to students now,” Ms Blackett said.
I didn't really have exciting school days and it's great to see what they've done now.
- Noel Wicks.
“We had a fountain pen in hand and we sat at our desks for 90 per cent of the day and everything had to be done the same and perfectly, there were no room for errors.
“There was no science or technology subjects, it was all reading, writing and maths and no talking –certainly not about fun stuff.”
Noah, 9, hopes to become a policeman when he is older and loves catching up with his friends and teachers as well as playing sport.
The students performed a showcase of music, dance and singing for the first half of the day and then families toured the modern teaching spaces.
Year 5 student Riley Howard, 11, was lucky to have his great grandparents Pat and Noel Wicks visit the school for the day.
Mrs Wicks said school was “a long time ago” so it is hard to remember.
“It’s a very different world now and I think in my day if you were privileged, you had to go to school for an education so that you could go and have a career, but we had to travel far for school,” she said.
“My teacher was just a teacher and they never got close or formed relationships, like they do today.”
Mr Wicks went to primary school in Armidale and while he liked to catch up with his friends in the morning and play sport, he said his school days were not “exciting”.
“In my classroom we just had a row of desks and you just went and sat at the desks, looked at the blackboard and took notes,” he said.
“There were no activities to keep you interested in school and it’s great to see what they’ve done, like using technology to learn.”
