Schoolchildren celebrate their digital lift-off!

All children in Years 3-6 in The Harmony Trust will be given one-to-one access to an iPad by the end of the year

Local Oldham schools from The Harmony Trust (Greenhill, Northmoor, Richmond, Alt, and Westwood Academies) have all recently taken part in a fantastic “Digital Lift-Off” to celebrate a new technology scheme.

All children in Years 3-6 in The Harmony Trust will be given one-to-one access to an iPad by the end of the year, and all children in the younger years will have increased access to technology.

This will help nearly 1,000 children in the Oldham area, and over 5,000 children across the Trust to continue make great progress after the challenges of the past year.

The children and staff held a special event day to start thinking about their bright, new exciting futures.

Everyone wore their best and brightest clothes and brought in £1 to kick-start the fundraising campaign and the children all took part in career-based activities including:

- Live link ups with professionals such as journalists, doctors, architects, police officers and even a sports scientist working with one of the Olympic teams.

The children asked them all how technology had helped them in their careers.

- A live link up with Chester Zoo.

- Children explored augmented reality with Google Expeditions.

- The children all had an eye on what it means to be safe online and these children at Northmoor took home their 'Be Internet Legends' online safety kits to work on at home.

Chief Executive of The Harmony Trust, Antony Hughes, said: “The lockdown period has shown the benefits that technology can have on children’s learning both within and outside the classroom.

"We want to encourage our children to become expert independent learners, acquiring skills for their future education and careers.

"However, this period has also been made us more aware of the digital divide that exists in our communities.

"Our aim is to increase our children’s access to technology, creating equality and opportunity through a stimulating and challenging curriculum.”

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