Drilling Systems has donated ten laptops to The Bourne Academy in Bournemouth to help disadvantaged youngsters learn from home.
The Bourne Academy, which has almost 1,000 students aged 11-18 years old, is sited in one of the UK’s most deprived boroughs and almost 40% of its learners live in poverty.
Despite these challenges, the Academy has transformed from a previously failing school to one with good Ofsted ratings and one of the best track records for student progress in the borough. Many of its students have difficult home lives and are struggling to access online learning with limited resources.
Following an IT upgrade, Drilling Systems had a number of spare laptops, all with Windows 10, webcams and microphones to support home learning, and donated them to the Bourne Academy’s students. Drilling Systems is a world-leader in simulation. The company develops and manufactures real time training simulators for the oil and gas markets from its Bournemouth base and exports them all over the world.
These simulators are used to help oil and gas workers learn how to drill for oil and gas, prevent incidents and operate cranes and other rig site equipment in a safe and controlled environment, as well as raising operational performance and worker competency. Like learning how to fly a plane, oil and gas personnel can practise on a Drilling Systems simulator before they go into the field for real.
The Academy is now in the process of distributing these donated laptops to its most needy students.
Caroline Gobell, Business Director at The Bourne Academy, said: ‘We are absolutely delighted to be lucky enough to receive these donated laptops from Drilling Systems, who got in touch with us via our sponsors Canford School, and we are extremely grateful to the company for thinking of us.
“The laptops will make a massive difference to some of our students who have limited access to remote learning from home during this pandemic. Many families are struggling and these laptop lifelines will take the pressure off family life as a whole, as well as prevent the gap widening between those children with enough resources at home, and those with nothing. This sort of difference is lifechanging.”
Clive Battisby, head of simulation at 3t Energy Group, which includes Drilling Systems, said: “As a global technology company committed to improving human performance, we wanted to help support local families struggling with remote learning during the current pandemic. Hopefully our donation will make life a little easier for some of The Bourne Academy’s students and help them keep pace with their peers.”