Published on 24 July 2008

The donated goods included eighty laptops and a number of desktop computers and docking stations.

The computers are a valued addition to the school’s facilities. Headteacher David Matthews said of the donation, “It offers a lifeline to a secondary school on a very tight budget. These donations make a significant difference to the learning experiences offered by the school, and will continue to do so for a long time to come.”

Pupils with special educational needs, who benefit particularly from working independently and at various rates of progress, have been motivated most by access to these machines. The remaining computers are utilised by different classes at different points in their curriculum.

When teachers want their pupils to work electronically, it is no longer necessary to book one of the IT classrooms for an entire class. Flexible teaching, which adapts to the needs of individual pupils, has become much easier and more effective.

As an ongoing initiative, CHP Consulting hosts an open day for pupils from St. Andrews and another Croydon school, on which they visit the London head office to see what a city office looks like and get a feel for day-to-day life at an IT consultancy. The main purpose of this is to encourage them to believe that hard work and application at school can bring genuine rewards in later life.

Andrew Denton, Sales and Marketing Director of CHP Consulting, commented: “We are pleased to hear that our donation has made such a positive impact on St. Andrews School. As a company, we believe it is important to offer support to local communities. Pupils from St. Andrews have visited the CHP offices over a number of years and we hope that this relationship continues well into the future”.

In July, CHP Consulting also donated a Nintendo Wii to the school and this was used as a prize as part of "Enterprise Week". During this penultimate week of term, pupils in years seven, eight and nine work outside the structure of the conventional curriculum, developing their capacity to be innovative, efficient team-players with vision and focus.