Wiltshire families getting support for digital devices
A number of organisations in the county are trying to help struggling children
Last updated 11th Jan 2021
Wiltshire Council is going to spend £1.1 million on laptops and digital devices for disadvantaged pupils in the county.
They want to help those students with no access to tech get online and take part in some virtual learning from their school.
Currently pupils who do not have a laptop can attend school alongside children of key workers and vulnerable students, but it's hoped by providing more devices means less students will have to go in and allow schools to manage spaces better.
The money, which will come from government Covid-19 funding, will buy around 2,500 devices.
Cllr Laura Mayes, Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Skills, said:
"It is essential our children and young people can continue to be taught and have an education in these difficult times as well as being able to maintain links with friends and have face to face contact with their teachers. With the news this week that schools will close we are aware there are families and young people out there who are left without the means to access that education and this is not acceptable.
By using our government COVID-19 funding in this way we are ensuring families are not disadvantaged and can join their peers working from home. We will be working with our schools to ensure those children who need devices can access them.
I know schools have already been receiving many requests for laptops and some are sending children into school as under the new government rules you can attend. By providing additional laptops we will be freeing up those school places for other pupils who need to be in school.
Across Wiltshire we have some great charity work happening with many community minded charities offering to recycle second hand laptops so they can be used in schools and I would like to thank them for this extraordinary effort."
During the summer term last year, the local authority were able to give out 1232 bits of technology across 138 schools.
Currently secondary schools are able to access devices made available by the Department for Education, while primary schools will be able to do so by the 15th January.
EXTRA HELP AT HAND
Wiltshire Council are not the only organisation to be providing support to families in need.
Wiltshire Digital Drive is a Community Interest Company which was set up last year to help children and families while they were at home.
They asked for people to send in their broken and unused technology which they then refurbished and recycled before distributing it out to vulnerable people.
Between April and September 2020, they were able to send out 150 laptops into the local community.
With students back at home for at least a month, the company are once again appealing for people to send in their unwanted digital devices.
Co-director Natalie Sherman told Greatest Hits Radio:
"The digital divide has been something that has gone under the radar but has been known about for quite a lot of years since the internet came about and laptops and smart phones etc. but actually it has been magnified and made a lot worse due to lockdown because the schools having to close and children having to go to a remote learning set up, as well as parents working from home, has kind of brought about this issue and brought it to the forefront because previously adults who may not be able to afford tech would get it supplied at their work place and children would have it supplied at school but everything pushed online has kind of exacerbated the digital divide in the county."
They are looking for people to get in touch with some laptops for them to fix but they also are in desperate need of donations.
Anyone in need of a laptop or digital device is also being asked to get in touch.
For more details on how to get in touch, visit wiltshiredigitaldrive.org.