EDUCATION
A laptop lifeline Concern about limited access to IT equipment for local pupils prompted West Devon Borough Council to share £4,000 between two local secondary schools. Tavistock College and Okehampton College received the cash boost to spend on equipment to help children struggling to access online learning at home. The £4,000 donation was funded through the council’s SeaMoor Lotto fund, which is run to support local good causes, with 60% of each £1 lottery ticket purchased, ploughed back into the community to do good. If no specific local community group has been selected by a lotto player, this money goes into a central fund. The council agreed that using this fund would help children in the community who are struggling.
Rotary Round-up The third lockdown has been hard for everyone but especially for families where parents are working from home with children trying to access online learning. Many children were working on mobile phones or did not have access to a laptop during the working day. Tavistock Rotary has been collecting unused laptops and iPads, which are then checked and data cleansed by our IT specialists, Graham and Tony, before being passed on to Tavistock College. We ensure that each laptop is capable of downloading Google Classroom, which is the platform used by the college. We have passed on 25 laptops to the college so far with more in the pipeline, while the iPads have gone to St Peter’s Junior School. If you have an unused laptop or iPad just lying around please consider passing it on to Tavistock Rotary by calling Nigel Ellis on 01822 616507 – it could make a big difference to a child’s life. Usually at this time of year we have planned a lot of activities to engage with the youth of the town. This year has been
difficult as we were not able to work with the schools during lockdown and in addition did not want to apply more pressure to teachers’ workloads. However, we’re pleased to confirm that the English departments of Tavistock College and Mount Kelly are both taking part in the Young Writers competition. Children are asked to write 500 words about ‘My happiest day’, and we look forward to sharing some of their work in the near future.
DMAT receives £220,000 of ‘green’ funding Dartmoor Multi-Academy Trust (DMAT) was recently awarded more than £220,000 worth of ‘green’ Government funding, by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS). The money will allow the trust to invest in green technology across the 17 schools, which include Tavistock College, with the trust believing these changes could lead to energy savings of more than 450,000 kWh per year, which in turn could save the schools more than £45,000 per year.
Outstanding Childcare in Tavistock 15 Hours or 30 Hours FREE Childcare for eligible 2, 3 & 4 Year Olds Available Now! 54 Plymouth Road, Tavistock, PL19 8BU
01822 613416 tavistock@bambinosdaynursery.co.uk www.bambinosdaynursery.co.uk
See our community website www.dartmoorlinks.co.uk
Outstanding Childcare and Natural Environments Outstanding and Caring Staff for Your Child 27
