Berry Springs Primary School’s digital transformation, results awarded

A Top End primary school has taken out the top tech gong among Aussie and NZ schools after its digital revamp left experts ‘blown away’.

A tech giant has rewarded a Top End primary school after it‘s digital transformation boosted students’ performance by more than 20 per cent and left experts “blown away”.

Berry Springs Primary School has won HP’s first ‘Reinvent the Classroom’ Award after it recorded the strongest digital growth and impact in 2023 across 28 schools in Australia and New Zealand.

Principal Carlie Mamo said the digital revamp was a major shift away from the school’s past IT capabilities, where students had limited access to technology throughout the day.

HP managing director Brad Pulford and Berry Springs Primary School principal Carlie Mamo celebrate the school's digital transformation.

Ms Mamo said the school now had an innovation hub – complete with 30 new laptops and accessories – for classes to attend and work with.

“Our main goal was to improve the technology across the school – so that was laptops, that was interactive boards in classrooms, but also asking teachers to use that digital technology as part of their teaching and learning programs,” Ms Mamo said.

As AI becomes prevalent in classrooms across the country, Ms Mamo said teaching kids to use the tool effectively and safely was a boon to their academic engagement and results.

“We use one (tool) where you type in some descriptive information about whatever it might be – a purple dragon riding on a bike – and then it will generate images,” she said.

“Then we’re using those images to be a platform for writing, so that will be the character in your story.

“A lot of kids do really struggle with coming up with the initial idea, so it does (help) in a really fun way.”

Ms Mamo said the next steps in the school’s digital learning journey would see teachers take their accreditations further through Microsoft to build confidence in staff and students.

“It’s really great to see the students using the language of technology, and excited about being at school and participating in those lessons,” she said.

Education Minister Mark Monaghan discusses Berry Springs Primary School students' digital transformation.

Education Minister Mark Monaghan said “bridging the digital divide” was critical to delivering a quality education across the Territory.

“We all know the further away you get from Darwin, the harder it is to access certain technology,” Mr Monaghan said.

HP managing director Brad Pulford said it was important for schools to teach kids digital literacy skills to prepare them for jobs and functions that “don’t exist today”.

Mr Pulford said the pandemic accelerated the world’s growth towards a “digital economy”.

“Part of that journey is making sure that we help foster a society that is ready from a digital perspective – everywhere from students, to teaching, to households, as well as organisations,” he said.

The In Short bullet point summary was created with the assistance of AI technology (PaLM2) then edited and approved for publication by an editor.