Building firm donates 50 tablets to schools
With pupils still being home-schooled a building firm has donated 50 tablets to help more children with access to quality technology for their education.
Pave Aways has given 10 Samsung Galaxy tablets each to Newtown and Welshpool High Schools in Mid Wales, the Telford Langley School, Shrewsbury Academy and Blacon High School in Chester.
The tablets, equipped with robust covers, have been distributed by the schools to young people most in need so they can continue their education at home.
A recent survey by the Sutton Trust revealed a “digital divide” between children being forced to study at home with 35 per cent of low income families lacking sufficient access to devices for quality learning, compared to 11 per cent of middle income families.
Pave Aways managing director Steven Owen said the idea for the donation had come from staff who have been home-schooling their own children.
He said: “We realised that studying at home during lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic may be hard for some young people if they don’t have the access to the quality technology they need and this could have a long-term effect on their future.
"We’d already started the roll out when the Sutton Trust report came out so that reinforced our belief that this was a positive thing to do."
Struggling
Julie Johnson, head teacher at the Shrewsbury Academy said: “This donation will have an incredible impact on our students who are at our school. During the current lockdown we have students in the school community who are struggling to access a device at home, that would enable them to then attend an online lesson.
“This donation will ensure that 10 or more families and students are able to log on to live or remote lessons and have the opportunity to speak to staff and fellow peers alongside being taught.
“These tablets will also provide students with the opportunity of downloading wellbeing apps to support their emotional wellbeing during this time of national lockdown, which is such an important aspect of life.”
Jim Toal, Head teacher at Welshpool High School, said: “We are very grateful to Pave Aways for the extremely generous donation of 10 tablets. They have been allocated to students who were struggling to access online learning fully from home and have already made a big difference to those students and their families. I would like to thank Pave Aways for such a kind and publicly spirited gesture.”
Newtown High School Head Teacher Rob Edwards said: “We are extremely grateful for this generous donation, which will contribute to supporting disadvantaged learners in the school. We wish Pave Aways success in their new projects in the area, which will help to allow Newtown to grow and prosper."
Steve Carter, Head Teacher of Telford’s Langley School, said: “We have worked hard to ensure that all of our students have access to suitable IT devices when they are working remotely at home. We are very grateful to Pave Aways for its generous donation of 10 tablets as these devices will support our commitment to ensure the very best remote learning provision possible.”
Pave Aways started work this week on an £8.4m contract to deliver new school facilities in north Shrewsbury.
