Supporting local school children during lockdown

Croda International Plc, which uses smart science to create, make and sell speciality chemicals that improve lives, is supporting school children in the UK by gifting its pre-owned laptops and tablets to pupils having lessons at home.

With the third UK lockdown closing schools, many children are struggling to access online lessons and work due to lack of IT devices, with not all schools able to loan devices to families. During the first weeks of the latest lockdown, Croda donated over 50 devices to primary and secondary schools local to their UK sites; the company plans to donate another 50 devices by the end of January.

This latest community support initiative saw schools in Widnes, Goole, Doncaster, Leeds and Hull benefitting from free laptops, desktops and tablets to help school children studying at home.

Mr V Groak, Headteacher at The Hessle Academy said: "The current lockdown has presented incredible challenges for many school communities as we seek to support students and families with remote learning. The shortage of quality devices and laptops has been one of the biggest problems that we have faced at Hessle High School so we are hugely grateful to Croda (Hull) for their support. Thanks to their generosity, five families are now benefiting from high-quality and fast connection which will support their home learning. On behalf of the school, staff and students, we would like to say 'Thank You' and wish everyone at Croda a safe and prosperous 2021." 

Anna Highly, project coordinator for the Croda initiative said: “We realised the difference this IT equipment could make and have been really focussed on getting these devices out to schools to be used by children as quickly as possible. It is amazing that the initiative started only two weeks ago, and we have already been able to help so many children. By using our existing local school network from our educational outreach programme, along with our social media presence, we have been able to help many local schools and families during a really challenging time.”

This latest initiative follows the company’s Acts of Kindness programme, which, in April 2020, saw Croda making up to £200,000 available to support local communities.