Fenland school appeals for old phones to help pupils get online

A Fenland school has made an urgent appeal to help its pupils get online so they can do home learning during this latest lockdown.

Thomas Clarkson Academy in Wisbech has issued an appeal for devices that students can use as a mobile wifi hotspot.

In a post on community Facebook pages the school said: "There are two parts in making sure our students can work from home successfully.

"The first is access to an appropriate device. With support from local charities and the government we are now able to provide every one of our students with a laptop if they do not have one to work on at home.

"The second part is access to the internet, we know that not everyone has internet or that their allowance may run out, so we've been able to get some data sim cards from Vodafone. However, these sim cards need devices we can put them in for people to use as a mobile wifi hotspot.

"This is where we need your help!

"Do you have any old mobile phones that you don't need anymore that still work? Or, perhaps, wifi dongles at home or in your business that you don't use anymore? If you have any of the above and would be wiling to donate them to the school to support our families we would very much appreciate it.

"We can then put the data sim cards in these devices and give to students to use for internet access.

They can be simply dropped off at reception any time between 8am-4pm.

"If it is an old mobile phone, please make sure you factory reset it and remove any old sim cards or memory sticks.

"Thank you in advance for supporting the young people in our community."