Warwickshire County Council has now purchased over 3,000 laptops to give to the county's more vulnerable children and young people to support their remote learning and to ensure that they have access to online activities as part of their remote learning.

Schools will receive the devices, own them and distribute them to the pupils they identified as requiring this support.

Delivery came in two phases, 2,000 were distributed in the last phase.

In this phase, young carers and Children Looked After (CLA) as well as special schools to support pupils with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) and Infant Schools received laptops and equipment.

All laptops are fully equipped with Windows 10 Home edition, firewall and anti-virus and have full three-year warranties. A further purchase of MiFis with unlimited data has also been made to support learners whose households do not have internet connectivity.

Cllr Colin Hayfield, portfolio holder for education and learning, said: "I am delighted that this distribution has happened so quickly. Many devices went out weeks ago and the team has been working at great pace to continue to source and distribute them as quickly as possible.

"While set in place to ensure that vulnerable learners had access to devices during the lockdown period, the devices are the schools' to use as they see fit.

"They will continue to provide a valuable resource for some of our pupils so that they are not at any disadvantage to their peers as we start to move back towards a more normal style of learning.

"The comments that we received from schools have been so heartening. It has clearly meant a huge amount to them and to the children and the young people receiving the devices."

Information for families about available assistance can be found on the WCC website.