In June our Club was contacted by Samantha Sage, the School Business Manager for St Stephens Infant School in Canterbury. She told us that they had a 6-year-old Year 1 pupil, Lilah, who was isolating due to health reasons (she had a liver transplant as a baby) and was therefore unable to attend school. The Head of the School and their Family Liaison Officer had been on a home visit to support the family.
Although the school was supplying a lot of home learning via their website and apps, Lilah’s family was struggling to access this. There was no tablet/iPad for her to be able to access any home learning (we were told a tablet would be better for the School’s apps than a laptop). This meant that Lilah was missing out on educational teaching and face-to-face learning (so important for a child of this age). The family also have a young toddler, and with the current limitations on going outside in this global pandemic, especially with a child with severe medical needs, stress and anxiety was very high.
The School asked if we could offer any support; they had tried the Government scheme which was too restrictive in this case.
Immediately, the Chair of our Community Services Committee, PP David Barton, contacted our Members and a spare tablet was offered by Pauline & Vivian Pritchard.
This was duly delivered to the School by the Pritchards, and we have just received a photo of young Lilah with her tablet. We were touched by her comment on receiving it: “It’s amazing and so kind”.
On behalf of the School, Samantha told us they were extremely grateful that we had supported them in being able to provide an iPad “with educational apps to support remote learning during the current pandemic and during periods of absence [that] this young girl has to have due to a significant medical condition.” She added that the iPad will “enable Lilah to continue to be engaged in learning”.
We wish Lilah the very best with her studies.
If anyone should wish to provide additional support to this child or other children at the School, please contact us so that we can put you in touch with the School.
Picture: Lilah, pictured with the tablet. Picture Credit: St Stephen’s Infant School.
