An appeal for donations to enable Broadwater School to buy laptops and other computer equipment has already reached the half-way mark.

The school put out the plea in a bid to rise cash to provide the equipment for pupils who are having to learn remotely because of the pandemic.

On its fundraising page, the school wrote: "The coronavirus pandemic has brought about much uncertainty for many and forced educators to be innovative and teach students in ways they have never had to before. The need for students and teachers to have access to computers within their own homes has become imperative.

"The Department for Education has provided some laptops to schools to help children and families access remote education during the coronavirus pandemic as well as helped disadvantaged children who need an internet connection gain internet access.

"However, these funds have been significantly less than those required to assist our students and teachers who need to provide live lessons via remote learning. This unfortunately leaves young people at risk of not being able to access great quality live lessons during lockdown or through periods of time they are needing to self-isolate.

"We are therefore asking for your support to help fund the purchase of IT equipment such as cameras, webcams and microphones for our teaching team, as well as additional equipment for students. This will allow our teachers to continue to provide the same lessons and great class experience to all students including those accessing live lessons from their own homes. We want to ensure that no student is educationally disadvantaged by the ongoing global pandemic."

So far the appeal is half-way to its £5,000 target.

Headdteacher Lizzzi Matthews said: "We would like to say a massive thank you to all our supporters that have donated to our live lessons initiative so far.

"We are excited to share that we have reached over 50% of our fundraising goal because of all of the amazing donations we have received.

"Please keep sharing our page and help support this great cause."