The North Sea Link team behind the UK’s longest subsea interconnector have donated 51 laptops worth over £10,000 to a Northumberland primary school, to help assist with home learning during the UK wide lockdown.
The move was part of a nationwide drive by National Grid, which has seen 1000 laptops, equipped with the latest software, donated to several schools across the country including Cambois Primary School.
Due to the current Covid-19 pandemic, children are now being home-schooled with teachers delivering work online. Unfortunately, many pupils lack access to laptops and computers due to households having multiple children and shared technology.
Staff from North Sea Link, a joint venture between National Grid and Statnett Norway, which will allow active sharing of green energy, previously donated 30 laptops to assist with online work last year.
The existing 30 and additional 51 laptops, accompanied by ‘Griddles’ the teddy bear, have been safely delivered to pupils who need them and will be returned to the school for continued use once it reopens.
North Sea Link project director, Nigel Williams said: “This is such a challenging time for all households, many parents are working from home whilst juggling home-schooling.
“Having to share laptops, tablets and computers can really impact productivity and can be frustrating to all involved. We wanted to ensure that the pupils who needed an additional laptop or access to the latest technology had this.”
Headteacher Marianne Allan added: “We’re very grateful to everyone from North Sea Link for their continued support and to National Grid for making this possible. Our teachers, pupils and their parents are working extremely hard to ensure minimal disruption to education.
“Cambois is a small community and North Sea Link have really helped us stay connected now more than ever and it’s greatly appreciated. We look forward to welcoming our students back once the lockdown is relaxed.”
The project team have also been busy reaching out to the wider community, providing several care homes with face masks and over 600 bottles of hand sanitizer.
The North Sea Link Interconnector will be operational in 2021, and the 1.4-gigawatt electricity interconnector will allow the UK to import enough clean energy to power up to 1.4 million homes.
To find out more about North Sea Link please visit http://www.northsealink.com.