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Council’s ‘heavy investment’ in laptops paying off as 97% of Aberdeen pupils log in for class

Aberdeen City Council has ‘invested heavily’ in technology to make online learning accessible.
Aberdeen City Council has ‘invested heavily’ in technology to make online learning accessible.

More than 12,000 low-cost laptops have been issued to Aberdeen school pupils to enable them to attend class in the lockdown.

City chief education officer, Eleanor Sheppard, told councillors an average of 97% of children were engaging with the online learning across the city’s schools, in place as the majority are to stay at home in the latest lockdown.

But the tracking across the city shows some schools have engagement levels as high as 99.7% while elsewhere it drops to the “early 80s”, Ms Sheppard.

“We ask that all children log in at set periods in the school day currently, very much as a learning check but also a wellbeing check,” she told members of the council’s education committee.

“That allows us the opportunity to follow up with any families who may be experiencing issues.”

Earlier this week, Nicola Sturgeon announced schools and nurseries would remain closed until at least the middle of next month.

However, vulnerable children, some additional support needs pupils and those from key worker households have been allowed back to school.

The local authority experienced issues getting youngsters online during the first school closures in the 2020 lockdown – but Ms Sheppard said they were better prepared now.

She added: “A number of devices were provided as part of the Connecting Scotland fund and the local authority in addition invested heavily in Chromebooks over the last nine or 10 months to make sure we were in a stronger position this time around.”