Tutor Trust are grateful to the Northern Powerhouse Partnership for providing laptops for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds with no access to technology, so that their tuition can continue.  This support has been highlighted by Granada Reports, and Tutor Trust will feature on their programme on Tuesday 12th May (please see here).

Learning is difficult for many children during the Covid-19 crisis and much of the learning provided by schools relies upon the child having access to online learning.  For many of the most disadvantaged pupils this is very challenging.  They may be in a family home where there are no IT facilities or just one laptop for use by the whole family.  The Government have now recognised this and are supporting schools by providing IT equipment and data for some year 10 pupils and a small number of disadvantaged pupils.  We welcome this policy, but implementation is slow. 

So, when two young people from The Right Angle cohort, a Department for Education funded provision provided by the Tutor Trust in collaboration with TLC:Talk, Listen, Change, told us that they could not continue tuition due to a lack of IT facilities we jumped straight into action to speed up the process. 

Our relationship with the Northern Powerhouse Partnership proved to be extremely valuable and they were able to acquire twelve laptops for some of our pupils to continue their tuition online and ensure they don’t fall behind in lockdown.

The first recipients were twin boys, Chris and Kalvin, year 7 pupils at Newman College in Oldham.

Jo Meredith, Director of Alternative Provision at Tutor Trust, took the laptops to school to give to the boys.  Both boys were delighted and excited to recommence their tuition sessions with Cailum, their tutor.

Jim McMahon MP features on the programme, saying:

During the lockdown and school closures, it is the most disadvantaged schoolchildren that are suffering the most – without access to computers and devices, they risk falling further behind their better off peers.

Tutor Trust are grateful to Northern Powerhouse Partnership, and all our funders, who continue to support us and enable our tutors to work with those young people who are most in need.