£70,000 learning boost as almost all Calderdale children have IT equipment for home learning

In just two months the Laptops for Learning scheme, a partnership between Calderdale Council, the Calderdale Partnership School Improvement Board and the Valley Learning Partnership, has seen generous donations reach around £70,000, enabling extra laptops and dongles – the latter key for internet access – to be bought.

Coupled with equipment which has been given by the Government, the immediate IT needs of Calderdale’s children will have been met with some final orders.

The council’s Cabinet member for Children and Young People’s Services, Coun Adam Wilkinson (Lab, Sowerby Bridge), said any remaining donations will be used to help address digital poverty for children in the borough.

“At the start of this year, the council, the Community Foundation for Calderdale, the Calderdale Partnership School Improvement Board and the Valley Learning Partnership started the laptops for learning fundraising scheme to provide free equipment to the families most in need.

“Thanks to generous donations, approximately £70,000 has been raised and we’ve been able to provide 80 laptops and 175 dongles, which each provided three months of unlimited filtered data.

“This means that along with the devices provided through the Department for Education, almost all children needing support to access remote learning now have what they need.

“There are a further 80 devices being ordered and 23 dongles which will then ensure that all the requests from schools will have been met.

“We will be looking at how best to use any remaining donations to address digital poverty for Calderdale’s children and young people,” he said.