Page 39 - EM-Issue-90

Online Supplement

Written by David Badger
Provincial Communications Team

Essex Cornerstone

Top of the class for
Templars

he Essex Cornerstone continues to
support a growing range of good
Tcauses across the county, with
a youth programme focused on local
charities dedicated to helping young
people and children in need.
Last year, the Essex Cornerstone, a club for
younger Freemasons, started a scheme to
supply NHS hospital wards with iPad/tablet
devices to allow patients to communicate
with relatives while visiting is restricted due
to Covid-19 pandemic. The success of the scheme led many other masonic provinces taking up the challenge.
Ten months after the first national lockdown, with schools across England again closed due to the pandemic, it is clear
that many students still do not have access to a computer, laptop or the internet. So, following a request by W.Bro Henry
Bass to help support his local school, Witham’s Templars Academy, with computers to help support home learning,
the Essex Cornerstone rose to the challenge and quickly provided the school with 10 laptops, supported by £500 of
matched funding from the Essex Freemasons Community Fund. said:

“We are delighted to have been able to provide support to Templars Academy, and know that the laptops will
help schoolchildren access online learning. Being able to provide this support at a time of need harmonises
with the ethos of the Essex Cornerstone supporting young people”.
Victoria Gooding, Head of School, said: “The laptops that were very generously donated to Templars Academy will
without doubt support our families to access online learning.

“Families are struggling at the moment; without adequate or sufficient access to technology, some have either no way
of accessing live or recorded lessons and the learning that is set on a daily basis. Some of our families are working from
printed copies of work because of this, but the laptops being given to them will enable them to easily log-on and use
Microsoft Teams or access the school website. The laptops also support our families who have many siblings.
“We are very grateful for how this provides learning opportunities for our students who are most disadvantaged.”
Faye Welsher, MAT Safeguarding Lead and Family Liaison Officer at Templars Academy added: “I just wanted to put in
writing a huge thank you for the generous gift of the laptops. We have identified specific children that will hugely benefit
from this. The families are completely overwhelmed and grateful.”
Jane Bass said: “Can I also, as CEO of Connected Learning MAT, the academy trust of which Templars is a member
school, say a big thank you for the generous gift of laptops. For pupils of the school, who do not access to IT devices
whilst trying to learn at home, these will make such a difference to their learning”.

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