TWO firms have helped self-isolating pupils continue their education at home after giving them laptops.

Royal Wootton Bassett Academy head teacher Anita Ellis said the public-spirited initiative by both VINCI and Dyson has had a hugely positive impact on the learning of the students involved.

“One of our parents who worked for VINCI kindly applied to The VINCI Foundation on our behalf, and we were delighted to receive £5,000 to provide students with iPads,” she said. “Those iPads were invaluable over the two year group self-isolations we had to impose this term, and VINCI’s work to support the public sector was a tremendous lift.

“We have had 30 Dynabooks donated to us by Dyson, which was again incredibly generous, and once they are re-configured they will be invaluable to families who don’t have this technology at home. Working on a laptop is so much easier than working on a mobile phone.”

And any disadvantaged students who didn’t have access to a laptop or iPad also received one.

She added: “Even when students are not in self-isolation or lockdown, more and more homework or classwork is being placed online to allow students to revisit the curriculum in their own time.

“Access to this type of technology is enabling all students to take advantage of this, and we’d like to say thank you to these companies that have supported the efforts schools are making to ensure all students get the access to their lessons that they are entitled to.”