Bristol Free School is calling on its parents and community to donate laptops to the school which can be used to help pupils access home learning during the latest national lockdown.
The schools is looking to source laptops that are no more than seven years old, have been wiped of all data, feature a fully functioning keyboard, with no cracks in the screen and a power supply or charger supplied. The school’s dedicated IT staff will then build the laptops ready for the students to use.
In addition, the school would love to hear from any company that refreshes its IT/technology every few years and is looking for a way to donate its replaced laptops.
If you have a laptop that you would like to donate, please contact the schools at email hidden; JavaScript is required to arrange drop off at school.
Alternatively, donations are also hugely appreciated to help raise money to buy more IT equipment to help families with remote schooling.
“The impact of limited access to technology at home has been widely documented nationally and we know that it is affecting families within our own school community,” commented Susan King, Headteacher at Bristol Free School.
“We know that school closures are necessary to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is no doubt that lockdown is impacting all of our students’ learning and particularly those who have limited or no access to a computer/laptop at home. Lack of access to appropriate technology and wi-fi is proving an insuperable barrier to online learning for many of our young people. We want to be able to maximise access to online education, wellbeing and mental health support across our community.
“BFS is an ambitious school for all our community. We are fully committed to all of our young people and continue to do everything we can to support them through this difficult time. Providing our families with digital devices and internet data will make a huge difference to every child’s education and help minimise the impact of the digital divide. We know that currently there are some families whose children simply cannot access the full curriculum because of limited technology at home. We have already given out 50 + laptops but this is nowhere near enough for a school of over 1100 students. Please help us, to help our community further.”