An academy chain in the West Midlands that has invested heavily in iPads for children says it is paying dividends.
And it is not just in terms of children's learning now, but for their employment chances in the future.
The Arthur Terry Learning Partnership (ATLP) has handed out 11,000 devices - one for every pupil and teacher.
The West Midlands has the highest proportion of people completely offline in the UK (22%), according to the region's politicians.
In response to that, the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) secured £4m of government funding earlier this year to try and narrow the gap.
That is on top of £19m already invested in digital bootcamps or teaching key skills.
It said that had now been distributed the £4m to individual councils to allow them to target the communities most in need.
"There's no such thing as the dog ate my homework anymore," Assistant Head Sam Scadeng said, "So for these children it's also preparing them for a life of work at this early stage."
While previously IT sessions were often spent showing children how to log on or simply navigate websites, since distributing the iPads Mr Scadeng said pupils had become more digitally literate. "Now we spend less time on those sort of administrative skills and more time coaching the children on actual computing or subjects," he said.
Access to reliable, fast broadband remains a problem in many areas of the West Midlands, with full fibre coverage under 10% in Sandwell, Walsall, and Dudley.
Children at Slade Primary without wi-fi at home can download homework and learning apps at school, allowing them to complete tasks offline later.
"During the Covid19 pandemic there was a huge inequality between the access children had to technology and that ultimately impacted children's progress," Richard Anderton, Digital Transformation Lead for the ATLP, said. He said the academy trust wanted to ensure "no matter what the postcode children were from" they had access to technology inside and outside the classroom.
The ATLP runs 20 schools across the West Midlands, including Birmingham, Coventry, Staffordshire and North Warwickshire.
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