Ten ‘desperately needed’ laptops donated to Larne school

Larne High School has teamed up with Asda on an initiative to help tackle digital exclusion.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Asda Larne community champion, Catherine McCallion, arranged the delivery of 10 laptops - each of which comes with a tech bundle to support ongoing home learning activities - to the school as part of a project to provide over 7,000 IT devices across the UK.

The supermarket recently formed a partnership with technology provider Dell to invest over £2 million so that each of its stores in the UK could donate to a school in need in their local community. The Larne store nominated Larne High as there is a proportion of families within the school who are struggling to access technology.

­­­­­Principal Dr Stephen Reid said: “We can’t thank Asda enough for helping our school and donating these laptops. This donation will go a long way towards helping children gain access to the technology and data packages that will help to break down some of the digital barriers that unfortunately exist.”

Pupils Adam Ferrante and Robbie Currell receiving the laptops on behalf of Larne High School.Pupils Adam Ferrante and Robbie Currell receiving the laptops on behalf of Larne High School.
Pupils Adam Ferrante and Robbie Currell receiving the laptops on behalf of Larne High School.

According to the communications regulator Ofcom, around 9% of children in the UK – between 1.1 million and 1.8 million – do not have access to a laptop, desktop or tablet at home. These children are primarily from disadvantaged backgrounds and at risk of falling further behind with their education.

Asda Larne Community Champion Catherine said: “I know what a massive difference the donation of laptops is going to make to the school and its pupils.

“It makes me really proud that I can be here today to support my local community and surprise them with the technology they so desperately need.”

The new laptops are built with best-in-class durability that makes them ideal for young learners. The tech bundle provided by the Asda Foundation is an extension of its support of schools. During the Autumn 2020 term, the foundation awarded more than half a million pounds to hundreds of schools to ensure children could get back into the classroom.

--

Click here to read: ‘Incredible campaign’ to get laptops for Larne children

--

Thank you for reading this article. We’re more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers. Please consider purchasing a copy of the paper. You can also support trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription of the News Letter.

Related topics: