A Blantyre secondary school has received a donation of 10 top-of-the-range laptops from a local supermarket in a bid to tackle digital exclusion.
Asda Blantyre, in conjunction with the Asda Foundation, arranged a surprise delivery of 10 laptops to the school as part of its initiative to provide over 7000 laptops to schools across the UK.
Whilst children are preparing to return to the classrooms next week, Asda believe there is still a need for technology to support education activities outside the classroom including for homework tasks and learning during the school holidays as they aim to help schools future proof pupils home learning capabilities.
With this in mind, the supermarket giant recently formed a partnership with technology provider Dell to invest over £2m so that every store in the UK, including Asda Blantyre, could donate at least 10 laptops to a school in need in their local community.
The Asda Store in Clydeview Shopping Centre therefore nominated nearby school Calderside Academy who have a proportion of families struggling to access technology.
And the store's community champion, Mary Sutherland, arranged for delivery of the laptops, each of which comes with a tech bundle to support ongoing home learning activities.
The school will then distribute the laptops to priority pupils.
Mary told Lanarkshire Live: "I have a really close relationship with Calderside Academy and I know what a massive difference this donation is going to make to the school on receiving these laptops.
"I’m proud that Asda can help to play a small part in helping to break down the digital barriers so the children can continue their education remotely both now and in the future.”
Each laptop comes with a tech bundle that includes a headset and a mobile internet dongle with a data allowance of 20gb from Asda’s network partner Vodafone. Laptops will also include a one-year warranty and technical support and Asda’s in-house IT support team will also provide support to any school that needs help to set up the equipment.
Calderside Academy head teacher Skene Dodds thanked Asda for their "generosity," adding: "This is first class support from our local partner.
"Thank you“
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