Earlier this year, we granted £4,000 to Athelstan Primary School, located in our key Sheffield neighbourhood of Richmond Park, to go towards the purchasing of ipads for pupils with less access to online learning materials at home.
This came under the Digital Inclusion section of our Community Resilience Fund for 2024, which our business allocates to each of our regions for Community Partnership Managers to grant a certain amount of to organisations that provide social value.
The school found that access to online learning apps, such as Times-table Rockstars, Read Write Inc, and the Ruth Miskin Portal, which had proved to be highly engaging and effective with the children, was not equal across the board. There was a real risk that some children, particularly Pupil Premium Children, would fall behind as they could not practice at home as much as their peers. The school therefore applied for our funding to purchase twelve ipads, made available for use during the well-attended Breakfast Club before lesson time.
As part of our funding programme, our Community Partnership Managers monitor the progress made, to ensure everything is on track and that our funding has resulted in positive results for our communities. This month, as the new school year began, we checked in with Athelstan Primary, who reported on how much the ipads at breakfast club made a difference to the children who needed this extra support.
And the project has gone down really well! Roughly 37 children attend the breakfast club regularly, and this had risen since the ipads were introduced, the devices being the first resource the children go to on arrival. 23% of the children are Pupil Premium, and are able to access the online tools to boost their skills in grammar and times tables, as well as phonics sounds with the younger children. What’s more, parents are keen on getting their children early to breakfast club so that they can have more time to use these tools before school.
Importantly, there has been a noticeable improvement in targeted pupils’ learning outcomes, and general confidence levels in using these online learning tools. One particular year 3 pupil (‘Child A’) has thrived, as the provision and setting has helped him to focus and manage his autism (alongside the support of the school’s Autism Team and external agencies) and interact with other children. Zoe Godwin, Business Manager at Athelstan Primary School, explained this in more detail:
Child A’s support plan last year listed outcomes for him to be more independent in managing his own behaviour. Child A attends our Breakfast Club regularly and has historically struggled around other children, having to take himself away from them to refocus and calm himself. Interactions were not always productive; he lacked resilience and struggled to recognise that one disappointment or failure did not define him.
Child A is always one of the first pupils to select an iPad to use when he comes into the Breakfast Club. Since having the opportunity to use these devices, it has become a very infrequent occurrence for him to have to take time out away from others and he has made great improvements in terms of managing his own behaviour in this very busy environment. On the contrary, Child A is now mentoring younger pupils, particularly a boy in year 1, in how to use Scratch to create digital animations. It has allowed him to express himself confidently and enhanced his problem-solving and communication skills, which has in turn improved his self-esteem.
Reflecting on what the funding has helped the school to achieve, Zoe also commented:
The funding received has really helped us achieve our outcomes and target the pupils we planned to. They have contributed to helping our pupils with time spent on learning apps and increased confidence in using the apps. The increased number of iPads has also made our breakfast club more desirable and makes it easier for us to attract targeted pupils to attend – thank you.
