"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." Albert Einstein Video Conferencing Passmores School and Oxford Area School On Wednesday morning we flew down to Christchurch and drove out to Oxford Area School. "It's a very very straight road - don't fall asleep!" - Oxford's Principal Carol Moffatt had warned us....... she wasn't far wrong! I reckon we could probably see 10 kms in either direction when we were in the middle of it! Oxford Area School is one of the most technologically advanced in the country - they have an ISDN line that goes right out from the school, so we were planning to have the video conference at the school. Our Telecom expert, Brian Watson, was already there, setting it all up in the library - a big screen with a smaller picture inside it which he could switch over so that sometimes the view of Oxford would be on the big screen with Passmores in the smaller screen, and sometimes the other way round.

We spent all day testing the linkup - it looked pretty good - Brian and Carol have done lots of videoconferences from the school, so they knew exactly what to do. We also met our InterLink science teacher, Sarah Holt. Passmore's School and their InterLink teacher, Peter Allen, are also very much into science, so the two schools have been doing lots of science projects together over the last few months, and they were planning to show each other the results of their latest project on corrosion.

In the evening we got together with our InterLink class and waited excitedly for the time when we would link up. We waited... and waited...... Brian worked frantically to make the connection, but it just didn't seem to be working. He was on the phone to Peter Gould and Barry Davies, the experts at Nortel Research Laboratories in Harlow, where all the Passmores InterLinkers were gathered, and for an hour and a half they tried absolutely everything....... to no avail. Brian even brought in a whole new computer setup, just to make sure everything at Oxford was working properly, but he still couldn't get through. Videoconferencing of this type uses two channels to transmit sound and pictures... and one of the channels just wouldn't work.

At 9.30pm we decided that we would do a telephone conference instead. It was absolutely brilliant - both Oxford and Passmores had prepared heaps of things to show each other and tell each other about, and we found that even though we couldn't see each other, there was still heaps to talk about! Both schools introduced themselves, and almost all the InterLinkers had a turn at speaking, talking about what they were interested in and what they did at school. There was plenty of time for questions, with the two groups of students finding out more about each other, and being able to ask about any aspect of life in their pair country.

We all had a great time - the teachers agreed that they wanted to carry on the project after Passmores come back from their summer holidays, and everyone was really happy to have been able to speak to each other!

Brian was brilliant - he said straight away that we would meet again very soon and have another go at the full video conference - and Peter & Barry at Nortel were equally enthusiastic about making it work next time - with the continued support of Telecom in New Zealand and Nortel in Britain.

It means that Oxford and Passmores will have a bit more time to prepare their work and have a few more practices before the "real thing" (and Passmores have already had a go - they did a mini video-conference between two rooms at Nortel after they had finished talking to us that day) - andthey'll both have all their results from the corrosion experiment, too!

Although we were disappointed not to have been able to make the link this time, we were pretty philosophical about it - we're working with fairly complex technology here - and just once in a while, things don't go quite according to plan. But we know we'll do it next time!!!!!!

A huge big thank you goes out to the following people who made this link possible:

• Telecom New Zealand - who fixed everything up at Oxford Area School and who paid for the linkup to Britain;

• Nortel Research Laboratories, Harlow - for providing Passmores with free use of their videoconferencing venue and expertise;

• Cassandra Rivers and Helene Hogan at Telecom - for making it happen in New Zealand;

• Peter Gould and Barry Davies of Nortel Research Laboratories in Harlow, England - who made it happen in Britain;

• Sarah Holt, Carol Moffatt and all the Oxford Area School InterLinkers - for all the hard work they have put in over the last six months - and for getting their videoconference presentation sorted out in less than a week;

• Peter Allen and all the InterLinkers at Passmores School, Harlow - for all the hard work they have put in over the last six months (including all the projects they have devised themselves) - and for getting their presentation sorted out in less than a week, too!

• Michelle McCormack, The British Council and The British High Commission - for coming up with the idea and the funding in the first place and for talking to the right people at the right time;

• Our intrepid film crew in Canterbury - for being there instantly when required and for being so patient;

• CWA - for making the whole project happen.