Jess* had not been in school for well over a year due to the onset of a potentially long term health condition, around her 14th birthday. Jess is a bright, academic young person, but due to poor physical health was unable to attend school and understandably this then had a detrimental effect on her mental health.
A home tutor was organised for Jess. When Tracey first visited Jess at home, she noted; “when I arrived at her home to begin tutoring, Jess just had her mobile phone to access online resources. This was totally inadequate and, in my view, unacceptable.
”With Jess’ Stockport Secondary School unable to provide a laptop, Tracey made contact with Community Computers. Following a quick consultation with its DigiKnow core partners, a suitable device was identified and within days Community Computers was able to gift Jess with a laptop, which Tracey was able to
deliver to her. On receiving the laptop from Community Computers, Tracey reported back that Jess was, “made up!”. Tracey went on to note that, “the impact was positive and huge. Jess felt good, felt that she had a purpose and hope for her future.”
Jess’ situation had been complex, and her family were under-resourced and therefore just not able to obtain the IT equipment she needed to support her at a critical time in her education and development.
“Getting online and having the laptop enabled Jess to feel ‘okay’ about things, she could access the maths app and register to use it just like a student attending school.”
Tracey reflected that, “the biggest impact to Jess was to her self-esteem, receiving the laptop felt like an act of affirmation and far from feeling like a charity handout, Jess felt like someone believed her and believed in her.”
*All names and images have been changed to protect identities.
