%0 Conference Proceedings %A Gasson, J. %A Baldwin, H. %D 2006 %T OTAGONET ICT Ambassadors Programme: Dissolving Disparity and Distance %E Mann, S. %E Bridgeman, N. %B 19th Annual Conference of the National Advisory Committee on Computing Qualifications %C Wellington, New Zealand %I NACCQ in cooperation with ACM SIGCSE %P 97-101 %@ ISSN 1176-8065 %U www.naccq.ac.nz %8 7th-10th July 2006 %X The delivery of Information and Communication Technology (ICT ) programmes in high schools, and the recruitment of school leavers to tertiary Information Technology (IT) programmes are especially critical issues for New Zealand, with its small population base, and comparatively large rural community. Many schools find it difficult to provide and staff innovative and challenging ICT programmes. Students are often unaware of the extent and variation in the field of IT and that IT is primarily a creative problem solving exercise. Students are often uninformed of the range of IT programmes offered by tertiary providers or the potential variety of positions that are available in the IT industry. These issues are exacerbated in rural school communities. All tertiary IT providers report falling rolls, and recognise the need to attract more school leavers into our programmes. This paper outlines and reviews a six-day holiday course run in 2005 by Otago Polytechnic for ICT-talented secondary school students from rural Otago and Southland schools. The approach presented increases the interactions and connections between schools and tertiary providers to their mutual benefit. %K Computing education, tertiary, high school, outreach programmes.