Almost £90,000 to fund equipment for more than 300 youngsters
St Josephâs Catholic High School, Workington. Remote learning
Almost £90,000 has been awarded to provide IT equipment to more than 300 children and young people across Cumbria.
The equipment will help teaching to be carried out remotely as lesson remain virtual for most pupils.
Cumbria Community Foundation awarded the money to ten schools from various funds, including the Mary Grave Trust, the Printers Inc Social Mobility Fund and the Westmorland Family Community Fund.
The Mary Grave Trust would normally have supported young people travelling abroad through educational or youth group trips, work experience or gap year activities. Due to the current travel restrictions, the Foundation has instead used this funding to help young people study from home.
Cumbria’s schools are continuing their appeal to local people and businesses to donate laptops for use by school pupils who are now learning from home due to lockdown. The Cumbria Alliance of System Leaders (CASL), which brings together senior school leaders from around the county, issued the appeal in January after research by schools showed around 1,500 children and young people do not have access at home to the ICT equipment they need to fully participate in home learning. The campaign has so far delivered around half of this target, but CASL are urging any other local people or businesses that may be able to help, to get in touch, and help meet the target as soon as possible.
Freemasons donate laptops for Cumbrian pupils in £30,000 project
Primary school children in Cumbria will receive 115 laptops donated by members of the Freemasons.
The computers have been donated by the Provincial Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of Cumberland & Westmorland, who raised £30,000 to fund the project.
Ken Archer sought funding from the Worthy Causes Committee of the Mark Grand Lodge Benevolent Fund and the Provincial Mark Benevolent Fund.
With this money, 115 laptops have now been purchased for the benefit of primary education within the province, which covers the Scottish border to Milnthorpe and Millom in the south, and from Alston, Kirkby Stephen and Kirkby Lonsdale in the east and over to the west coast.
Cumbriaâs schools are appealing to local people and businesses to donate laptops for use by school pupils who are now learning from home due to lockdown.
The Cumbria Alliance of System Leaders, which brings together senior school leaders from around the county, has issued the appeal after research by schools showed around 1,500 children and young people do not have access at home to the IT equipment they need to fully participate in home learning.
While the Government has committed to providing more laptops to children who need them, experience so far is that delivery has taken considerable time. But pupils have an urgent need for equipment right now.
THE headteacher of two schools says she is confident that mass testing can be rolled out so pupils can return to teaching on site. Solway Community Technology College and Beacon Hill School were part of a Cumbria County Council pilot this week involving 16 secondary schools across Cumbria. “Cumbria was ahead of the national game, as it turned out over Christmas that all schools were asked to run mass testing from next week,” explained Judith Schafer, headteacher of both schools. “The pilot schools are all ready to go this Monday. We had fantastic support from the fire and rescue service and Cumbria County Council. We are not medical professionals and so we were asked to do something out of our comfort zones.”