PUPILS at a Staffordshire school are logging into a new computer age thanks to an early Christmas present from digger giant JCB. The company is donating 15 laptops to the 165-pupil Bishop Rawle C of E Primary School in Cheadle which will bring its computer suite into the modern era. The one-off gift of surplus IT equipment has been made possible as JCB upgrades laptops for its office staff at the World HQ. The computers will replace hardware at the school which is a decade old and running slowly due to its age – giving a huge boost to the school for 4-11-year-olds.
Today the laptops were handed over by JCB Chief Corporate Development Officer David Bell to headteacher Jim McCartney and pupils at JCB’s World HQ in Rocester.
David Bell said: “With its three factories in Cheadle, JCB is the town’s biggest employer, so we are delighted to donate these laptops to Bishop Rawle School where many of our employees’ children are pupils. ICT skills are vital in today’s modern business world and we hope by donating the laptops it will give the pupils a head start in learning expertise which will be very important to them in the future.”
Headteacher Jim McCartney said: “We are very grateful to JCB for donating 15 laptop computers to our school. Over the last few years we have had to work within a very tight budget and we have not been able to replace the computers. Technology has moved so quickly that the computers that we are currently using are not able to run the latest operating systems and this impacts on the learning experiences of our pupils. We all strive to give our pupils the best education possible and this generous gift from JCB will enable us to deliver a first class ICT curriculum and help our pupils to achieve the highest standards possible.”