Urgent help needed: help equip 300 disadvantaged students with laptops for the new school year.
In today's digital age, access to a computer is not a luxury but a necessity for learning. Yet, many Australian families living in disadvantage simply can’t afford this essential learning tool.
Right now, there are 300 Smith Family students starting Year 7 without the digital tools they need to succeed. With your help, we can equip these young students with a refurbished laptop at this pivotal moment in their educational journey.
Please donate now and help provide a refurbished laptop to a child experiencing disadvantage.
Donate now to help a child in need access the essential technology they need as they start high school.
Your donation will equip a young person experiencing disadvantage with a refurbished laptop, giving them access to the digital tools they need to keep up at school and fulfill their potential.
The Problem
To make the most of their schooling, it’s now vital that every Australian child has access to a reliable computer. They serve as a tool to:
- access online learning and resources.
- researching and writing school assignments.
- developing critical digital skills for the future.
Without a laptop, students experiencing disadvantage will be locked out of crucial learning opportunities that other students take for granted. At this critical start of the school year their peers will advance, irreversibly widening the digital divide.
Moving from primary to high school is challenging, as students deal with more academic and social pressure. This shift is compounded by the increased importance of laptops, which transform from optional aids to critical tools for complex coursework, research, and specialised software. Mastering digital skills becomes an additional hurdle, making the transition even more daunting as students navigate this more demanding academic environment.
It's also important to note that The Smith Family work with 91 communities across Australia, highlighting the significance of our mission.
The Solution
Each refurbished laptop costs $545. It serves as a vital lifeline for students, offering them the resources to further their education and acquire essential digital skills. As the school year begins, we kindly ask for your support in raising funds for 300 laptops.
How you can help
Donate: Every dollar counts. Your donation will go directly towards purchasing refurbished laptops for 300 students.
Spread the word: Help us reach our goal faster by sharing our campaign with your network.
Your support will open doors to endless possibilities for an Australian young person. You can ensure that no child’s education is limited by financial circumstances, especially as they embark on a new school year.
As the school year begins, there's no better time to support this cause. Together, we can ensure every child has the digital tools they need for learning and growing as a new school year begins.
About The Smith Family
At The Smith Family, we believe that education is one of the world’s most powerful change agents. That’s why we focus on helping young Australians to overcome educational inequality caused by poverty.
Investing in the education of a disadvantaged child delivers long-term positive benefits for them, their family and potentially generations to come.
As a national, independent charity, we work with thousands of children and their families every day to help them unlock better futures for themselves.
Our vision is a world where every child has the opportunity to change their future.
Please donate towards a refurbished laptop to help a child in need.
Frequently Asked Questions
Currently, the requirement for laptops and the support provided is at a school level. However, schools vary dramatically in their ability to provide students with the basic digital resources they need for learning. This is primarily due to the different funding and resourcing capabilities of schools throughout Australia.
While some schools that offer a Bring Your Own Device policy may have support for student laptops, many of our partner schools are unable to provide an individual laptop to each student in need. Another requirement for digital inclusion is having home internet access. This is not a resource that schools usually offer, which means students are unable to access crucial online studying resources from home.
The Smith Family works with our families and partner schools to understand the digital inclusion needs of our Learning for Life students so we can provide the specific digital resources required. With the generous support of donors and corporate partners, we can ensure every student has a laptop device, home internet access, digital skills, safety training and technical support, so they can access vital online education and learning opportunities.
As part of our Digital Learning Essentials program, we pre-install each device we send to families with a digital safety handbook that provides crucial safety information and parental control instructions. The digital safety handbook takes parent/carers through a step-by-step guide to online safety around the common cyber threat of scams, online bullying, inappropriate content, social media addiction and more. There are also conversational points for parents/carers to discuss online safety and the risks and challenges children might face on the internet.
Parental control step-by-step instructions are included in the handbook alongside screenshots as a visual guide. Parents are also advised to set up time limits (this can be done on the device), block age-inappropriate sites and to filter different types of content. In addition, many social media sites, games and apps come installed with parental controls that extend to all Windows, Android and Apple Devices.
The Smith Family also provides parents/carers with ongoing safety support through the Learning for Life Help Centre that includes a free call number, email, a chat bot and online tech support articles. The digital safety information follows the guidelines from leading eSafety resources:
- eSafety Commission
- Think U Know
- Kids Helpline.
With the initial roll out of devices, The Smith Family will prioritise students on a needs basis and consider:
- Number of students within the family without access to a device
- Students transitioning to high school who do not have access to a device
- Students from Year 4 (when schools often introduce Bring Your Own Device ) and Year 10 (compulsory years of schooling)
- The Smith Family also asks families on an annual basis to update their Digital Status on our family portal called My Smith Family. This includes providing the number of devices and type of home internet connection.
This helps us to understand what digital resources families have so we can monitor delivery effectively.
Thank you to our supporters
Thank you to our wonderful supporters who have donated to help disadvantaged Australian children access the digital tools and learning resources they need to keep up at school and fulfill their potential.
Sophie Maher
David Grainger
Mustafa Al Assadi
Tara Lawson
Rhonda O'Brien
Valerie Haynes
Jane Gerrard
Matthew O'Brien
Gaya Arasaratnam
