Since the lockdown began and schools were closed, we’ve been providing our children with online learning resources to help them maintain their education from home. Access to home learning requires access to a pc, laptop, tablet, or other computing device. For many families, there simply aren’t enough devices to go round, leaving many children unable to participate in home learning and keep up with their education.

To address this issue, we’ve set up a scheme to refit donated devices so that they can be distributed to families with children who are struggling.

It has been a very difficult period for everyone in education, and being able to access resources, work, and assistance directly from teaching staff has been incredibly useful in keeping our pupils from falling behind.

However, it became clear that not all families have the same access to technology as others, making it difficult for many children to reliably access the resources that allow them to maintain their education from home. In some cases, families of five or more children have had to share a single smartphone. While schools are scheduled to partially open over the coming weeks and months, we know that home learning will continue to play an important role in our children’s education for the foreseeable future.

By drawing on the generosity of members of the public and of our school community, and by making use of the IT department, we will be able to provide devices that help solve this problem.

The school closures have had a huge impact on the education of every child. However, for those without access to online home learning resources, this impact will have been even more significant. By distributing devices to families without, we can help make sure that every child is able to benefit from continued access to education.

At The White Horse Federation, we believe it’s important that every child has access to the same quality of education. While this has been made more difficult during the lockdown and school closures, it is important that we do everything we can to keep following this principle.

With the help of the public and members of our school community, we can make a significant difference in helping our more disadvantaged pupils bridge the gap with their peers.

We have already received a number of very generous donations from the school community, businesses, and members of the public. In response, our IT team has set up a process for re-fitting each device so that they can be safely used by our pupils at home.

Because, for some devices, a new hard drive needs to be installed to make sure they can be safely used by our children, there are some costs involved in the re-fitting process. If you would be willing to donate cash to support these efforts, this can be done through this page. Alternatively, if you have a device you would like to donate, please contact donations@TWHF.org.uk.