As you may have seen in the news, many children are struggling with their schooling during lockdown, as they do not have access to a laptop or tablet that allows them to work at home.
Might you be able to help? Either by donating used (but still good quality) equipment, or by helping to sponsor a child to receive a home device?
There is a minimum requirement for devices, and please be aware that if you are considering donating a second hand item, many ‘old’ home laptops will not be suitable.
If you do have a device you would like to offer, please read the following:
- Schools are looking to receive good quality Windows laptops, iPads, Android tablets and Chromebooks – to be supplied with intact power lead. However they cannot accept Apple laptops at this time.
- As a basic guide the Windows laptops would need to be comfortably able to run Google Classroom or Microsoft Teams – which is how school lessons are delivered. The minimum functional build would be:
- Intel i3 CPU (Gen 2) or later (preferably)
- 4GB RAM minimum (critical)
- SSD drive preferably (HDD okay though)
- Functioning on-board camera and microphone (critical)
- Business grade laptops under 7 years old may be suitable, and good quality home laptops under 5 years old.
The schools will reimage any Windows laptops supplied with their own Windows 10 build, a process that will ensure any data on the disk drive is wiped. If this is not considered sufficient, the disk drives could be removed (or the school could do it) so that they can fit their own.
If you are donating a tablet or Chromebook, please could you ensure that you have done a factory reset. Also, if you are donating an iPad, please also make sure that your data is already removed.
If you have a device, new or second hand that you are confident could be repurposed, please contact Emma Scott, Community Development Officer, Dorchester Town Council, DT1 1JF
And Emma will pass your detail to a local school to follow up with you.