John Bishop donates 100 laptops to his old school

'Our children deserve to be educated properly'

John Bishop has donated 100 laptops to his former school to help pupils lean from home.

The comic said that insisting children be homeschooled without checking they have the right devices is 'writing them off' – and said that he would have needed help in his youth.

He said: ‘When children are sent home without the tools to facilitate their education they are basically being written off and that is unacceptable to me.

What I can do for my old school fills a gap, but the reality is that in 2021 our children deserve to be educated properly and that requires the government to provide the tools necessary for home learning immediately.

'Because every day a child feels irrelevant is a day that we as a society could loose all the potential they offer. When this pandemic is over we do not want a generation of children who, through no fault of their own, find themselves left behind. Allowing that to happen would be shameful.'   

Kathryn Evans, who is principle of  Ormiston Bolingbroke Academy in Runcorn, said Bishop got in touch 'out of the blue' with the offer.

She said: ‘John knows and really cares for our community, he got in touch quite out of the blue, knowing that we might well have pupils who don’t have spare laptops for remote learning laying around at home. 

‘This gift to our pupils is wonderful and that is from a former pupil, makes it all the more special. We are so grateful to him and his family’. 

Thank you so much @JohnBishop100 for the 100 brand new laptops you have gifted to our students, we are so grateful! Full details about this amazing gesture can be found here - https://ift.tt/3iiA3cO #teamoba #obafamily #daretoshine pic.twitter.com/Jd6jiJd0a2

— Ormiston Bolingbroke Academy (@OBAcademy) January 15, 2021

Bishop attended the school from 1978 to 1983, when it was Brookvale High – a fact that is marked by a blue plaque on its wall. 

Ms Evans added: 'John has been a good friend to our school and community since Ormiston Bolingbroke was founded. 

'He came in its first year, at the request of a young man in Year 11 who said it would be his dream to meet him. 

'Having made that young man's dream come true, he has not been a stranger to us since. John came to help open the school officially, opened our recording studio some years later and helped us so generously stock the music equipment.' 

Earlier this week, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson pledged 300,000 laptops and tablets to help disadvantaged children learn at home, bringing the total up to 1.3million.

He said: ‘I want nothing more than for every child to be in the classroom with their friends and teachers, but with that not possible we are doing everything in our power to support schools with high-quality remote education.’

Published: 15 Jan 2021

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