Another initiative within the area is ’Connectivity for Kids’. ‘Connectivity for Kids’ is aimed at helping children who throughout lockdown have not been able to access necessary electrical devices for home schooling. As a result many children have limited and sometimes no interaction with teachers, learning resources and friends. A lot of families may have a divide at home and so may not have a printer or may need help with the expense of ink cartridges and paper.
Devices, printers and cash have been donated from residents in both Caterham and Warlingham together with an extremely generous donation of printing paper from both Waitrose Caterham and Caterham-on-the-Hill Parish Council.
The scheme has primarily been helping children within the Caterham Valley and Caterham-on-the-Hill, Warlingham, Hamsey Green, Whyteleafe and Chaldon areas however they welcome all referrals from the Tandridge area.
The team consists of Cllr Chris Botten, James Rujbally, Cllr Helen Rujbally, Vicky Robinson & Cllr Kerry Mansfield and they have also been working in partnership with Tina Picanz and Pam Whittingham in the Warlingham and Hamsey Green, who have been coordinating devices to be delivered to Warlingham Library.
We are currently looking at potentially a staggered return to school which could start from the 8th of March and many children won’t be returning for months. The scheme is aimed at families who might be struggling and who don’t how to get help with connectivity via homeschool.
Upon receipt ‘Connectivity for Kids’ ensure that the products are all Windows 7 or above, have power cables and are in good working order. They are then also given to Glen O’Dwyer from Computer Solutions, Caterham High Street who professionally wipes all previous data and restores them back to factory settings at no cost. All the devices are PAT tested at Caterham PAT Testing before being allocated to homes.
Donations of kindle devices have also been donated to ‘The Westway Centre’ to assist the elderly with reading while they cannot access Libraries.
The Westway manager, Claire Richards and Cllr Kerry Mansfield have together been looking into the possibility of online education sessions for the elderly to provide members of the community a relaxed introduction to basic IT skills and exploring the internet.
For further information or to apply to the scheme an email should be sent to the Connectivity for Kids facebook page (Search for Connectivity for Kids on facebook) or directly to Cllr Kerry at: cllr.kerry.mansfield@tandridgedc.gov.uk
