A CAMPAIGNING primary school teacher is spearheading an appeal for refurbished laptops and tablets to help pupils stay online for classes.

Helen Creak, head of Year Six at Earls Hall Primary School in Westcliff, is fighting to make sure all children have access to a laptop or tablet so they don’t miss out on any lessons carried out remotely.

Helen set up the Technology for Children appeal to help families that fall outside of the premium pupil funding but are still in need of support.

She said: “It became quite apparent over the last week or so and in the last lockdown that there’s a good number of children in my own school, across Southend and probably nationally, who don’t have access to technology to access remote learning.

“These children usually are just above the pupil premium bracket so quite often you find their families are on low incomes – they’re working but on low incomes

“It might be that they’ve got a phone but it can be quite difficult to access remote learning on a phone and they don’t have a tablet or a laptop.”

Schools were delayed in making a return to the classroom after the Christmas break as England went into a national lockdown.

With classes continuing to take place online, Helen was desperate to help students in need.

She put out an appeal on social media asking people if they had any laptops or tablets that weren’t being used that could do with a new home.

Helen then set up a fundraiser on Tuesday and received £1,500 in just 24 hours. So far, she has also received donations of 10 laptops, 10 desktops and seven tablets.

Helen said: “So it started as quite a small idea really to appeal for laptops or tablets for my own school and its just kind of taken off.

“I started this on Tuesday and I set up a fundraiser on Wednesday and that’s already up to £1,500 now.

“We’ve just had Christmas so some families and children would have got new laptops and new tablets and there will still be old ones sitting around that could be used so much by children for remote learning.

“What we are asking people to do is leave the windows package installed but do a factory reset or restore the device so all personal data is removed.

“We’re getting everything checked as well. We have ICT technicians at school so we’re getting everything checked.”

Helen stressed the importance of pupils having access to technology not only for educational purposes, but also the benefits it has on their mental health by being able to socially engage with teachers and their friends in live classes.

She added: “It will allow them to access the learning so they don’t drop behind in their lessons. Most schools are providing maths and English on a daily basis. We’re required to provide three hours of lessons per day. If you’ve got a family with multiple children and only one tablet that’s actually really hard to do.

“Also socially for the children’s mental health – if they can log onto a live lesson and see their friends that’s really important.”

If you would like to help, visit: https://www.facebook.com/donate/151569579868385/?fundraiser_source=external_url