A BOURNEMOUTH school has received a donation of 10 laptops thanks to a simulator developer.

Drilling Systems has donated ten working used laptops to The Bourne Academy in Bournemouth to help disadvantaged pupils learn from home during the lockdown.

Following an IT upgrade, the company 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.

Business Director at The Bourne Academy, Caroline Gobell 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 life changing."

The school, 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 per cent of its learners live in poverty.

Many of its students have difficult home lives and are struggling to access online learning with limited resources, so these laptops will go a long way to help.

Head of simulation at 3t Energy Group, which includes Drilling Systems, Clive Battisby 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."