THIS week, The Northern Echo has joined forces with rival publishers across the North to launch the Cash for Connectivity appeal and ensure children can access online learning at home. But a Government pledge during the first lockdown to provide laptops to the most disadvantaged children remains far from being met, a meeting has heard. Darlington Borough Council’s children and young people portfolio holder Councillor Jon Clarke told a full meeting of the authority many schools and parents were continuing to raise questions over the whereabouts of the laptops they had requested and the council was highlighting the issue to Government officials.
THOUSANDS of children across the North-East without devices or an internet connection have been left unable to complete schoolwork while home learning, but businesses across the region have rallied together to get children online. Scores of firms around the region have stepped up to provide vital resources for children struggling to access learning materials during lockdown. There have been widespread efforts to tackle the digital divide, including The Northern Echo joining forces with rival publishers across the North to launch the Cash for Connectivity appeal. The emergency fundraising drive aims to raise £1.2 million to help provide free internet to 100,000 disadvantaged households, with countless businesses having already donated devices.
Peter Gibson MP, Steven Hindmarch (Hellens Group), Natalie Palmer (Latimer Hinks), Matthew Wharton (Wharton Construction) and Kate Chisholm (Head teacher at Skerne Park Academy) A HOST of Darlington businesses have answered Peter Gibson s appeal to provide laptops for children at Skerne Park Academy. The Darlington MP made the appeal after learning that a number of pupils from the primary school on Coleridge Gardens did not have the devices as they need to enable remote learning during the third national coronavirus lockdown. Local and Darlington-based including Hellens Group, Latimer Hinks Solicitors, Recognition PR and Wharton Construction, have together pledged to source and donate 12 new devices to the school.
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The supermarket development is part of the council s ongoing regeneration work across County Durham
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