Group gets kids online
SURREY Heath Borough Council’s Poverty Working Group has stepped up to help pupils at Crawley Ridge Infant School in Camberley by offering recycled monitors, keyboards, mice and computers, all with Microsoft 10 installed.
The equipment will make home schooling easier for pupils who do not currently have access to devices.
Although Surrey Heath could be perceived as a generally wealthy area, over the past decade pockets of poverty have consistently registered on indexes such as the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment.
In January last year this was highlighted in a paper considered by the borough council and, since then, especially with Covid-19, it has become clear that traditional areas of poverty have changed and are continuing to change due to the pandemic’s impact upon employment.
The working group was formed last autumn and comprising of elected members, voluntary and statutory organisations, chaired by Cllr Shaun Garrett.
One of the group’s first actions was to host a consultation exercise with the community in December.
Listening to the feedback received, the group has since supported local initiatives in different ways – including funding streams such as the Emergency Food Poverty Scheme for organisations helping those in hardship.
It was through this group that the issue was raised of a lack of IT equipment for home schooling, particularly with families who had experienced a loss of income during the pandemic.
The Frimley Fuel Allotments and parish councils are among those who have made funds available to assist with the supply of equipment to schools within their wards.
The borough council also had a limited number of laptops available, which were presented to Crawley Ridge by Chris Gillman from the IT team on Wednesday February 3.
If you know of any schools within Surrey Heath that need help in this area, email jayne.boitoult@surrey heath.gov.uk