The Earl of Southampton Trust, a Titchfield charity that runs and looks after 19 almshouses in the village, has come to the aid of Henry Cort Community College students after a request from one of the school’s teachers.

The Fareham secondary school (Henry Cort Community College) which has over 800 pupils and is currently only open to children whose parents are essential workers or children who are considered vulnerable continues to provide education using an on line based curriculum. This of course relies on the fact that all children have access to a computer.

The government has said that they are providing portable devices for those :

with no digital devices in their household
with a single device in their household that’s being shared with more than one other family member

Unfortunately in many cases these objectives aren’t being reached even though they have promised to supply one million devices. As a result the Earl of Southampton charity, which along with its almshouses, also provides grants for individuals in need was approached by Mr Ben Parker, Assistant Principal to see if the Trust could help fill the gaps.

Henry Cort students with the new laptops. In the background are EoST Chair Frances Knight (left) and School Principal, Claudia Cubbage and Assistant Principal, Ben Parker

The Trust Chairman, Frances Knight, said, “During these trying times for all of us we wanted to show support for those who through no fault of their own are finding it more difficult than usual to cope.”

Frances held liaison talks with Mr Parker, who said, “We have been unable to provide multiple laptops to some our disadvantaged families that have two or more Henry Cort students in the household.

Families are having to share one device, which significantly diminishes the amount of virtual education they can access. This of course only widens the education gap that many of these families already have.”

Consequently the Trust have bought 10 laptops at a cost of over £4,000 to help those children. The Principal Ms Cubbage, is extremely grateful for the support of the trust and said, “We will ensure that these laptops get to the students who need them most.”

Frances added, “We may be a charity with a past going back 500 years but in this instance it’s the residents of the future we are aiming at.”