Over the last year, Learning with Parents has received a donation of 1,225 SIM cards from Vodafone to share with families who face barriers to engaging with learning at home. Schools we work with can request SIM cards for any families struggling to access our support due to data exclusion.
Vodafone’s charities.connected initiative is open to any registered charity that would benefit from free connectivity, either to improve its digital capability, extend its services or help the individuals and families it supports get online. Registered charities across the UK can apply for the free connectivity, in the form of SIM cards with 40GB data a month, plus free calls and texts, for six months.
Supporting families learn together at home
At Learning with Parents, we partner with over 100 primary schools in England, mostly in areas of high deprivation. We collaborate to motivate and empower their families to enjoy learning together at home through our online programme. Our child-led videos and hands-on activities replace traditional homework with meaningful parent-child interactions around Maths and English.
Data exclusion can be a significant barrier for the families we work with, meaning the free SIM cards are making a big difference. Over 200 families using our programme have benefitted through the initiative so far.
We’ve had overwhelmingly positive feedback from schools on the difference they have made. One teacher at Phoenix Infant Academy in Slough commented:
“Last term, Learning with Parents sent us some of the Vodafone SIM cards to support those families who had limited access to the internet and we gave out nearly 40 to parents in our school community. As a result, we saw families engage in the Learning with Parents activities who were not doing so previously.”
Tackling digital exclusion
Emma Reynolds, Head of Communications, Sustainability and Regulatory Affairs at Vodafone UK said:
“We are committed to tackling digital exclusion. We hope that by providing free connectivity to Learning with Parents and the other amazing charities across the UK who have such an enormous impact on their local communities, we can help create a more inclusive digital society. We urge any organisation who thinks they can benefit to apply online and look forward to hearing how this connectivity has helped.”
Receive SIMS for your partner school
Does your school use our programme or reading log? If you think families you work with would benefit from the SIMs, please get in touch today.