Pupils bag laptops thanks to ASDA donation
A supermarket has helped a school check out with a technology boost.
It was thanks to parent Claire Mackie that Linwood High has bagged ten new laptops.
Claire also happens to work at ASDA Linwood and learned of a community fund being operated nationally by the chain.
Her involvement helped land Linwood High the Dell Latitude machines.
The deal is worth thousands of pounds and includes headsets, carry cases, data allowance and a 4G hub.
And deputy head John Hammond said it will be the core of a wider digital revolution with the school at the epicentre.
Mr Hammond said:“These laptops will make a real difference to our pupils.
“This is certainly a piece of good news amidst all this doom and gloom and we are thrilled as ASDA’s donation.
“We were kindly nominated thanks to Claire bringing it to our attention.”
Linwood High has also received about 130 smaller Chromebooks on loan from the council.
Mr Hammond added:“This has been invaluable in supporting online learning.
“On the back of this, a parent has provided three refurbished and re-set computers his firm was getting rid of.
“The parent council has been a great help and we are very fortunate to have such close links with the community.”
The high school will find out more details shortly about a digital participation fund.
It is bidding for a £10,000 government grant to boost information technology.
The application has been made jointly with the town’s other high school, St Benedict’s.
That funding could mean another ten laptops going to each of the neighbouring schools.
Mr Hammond added:“If we are successful, the funding will allow us to make digital leaders within our school’s first year pupils.
“That will allow them to feed into the primary schools via Microsoft Teams and parents and partnership groups, for instance.
“Linwood High is certainly growing arms and legs digitally, and exciting things are happening.”