North Sea Link helps village pupils get connected

The team behind a major energy project in Northumberland is helping children at a village primary school to get connected in more ways than one.

The North Sea Link Interconnector project has donated 10 reconditioned laptops to Cambois Primary School in South East Northumberland.

The North Sea Link Interconnector is a joint project between Statnett and National Grid who are working together to construct an electricity link between Norway and the UK. North Sea Link will connect the electricity systems of the two countries via high voltage subsea cables from Kvilldal in Norway to Blyth, with onshore infrastructure located at neighbouring Cambois.

Passing through Norwegian and British waters, North Sea Link will be operational in 2021 and will be the longest subsea interconnector in the world.

North Sea Link first forged a relationship with Cambois Primary back in 2016 when the school played host to a community drop-in session organised by North Sea Link’s project team. The company has since helped the school to redecorate some of its classrooms and corridors and has now donated the IT equipment.

“When we first visited Cambois Primary School last year, we were absolutely blown away by the enthusiasm and community spirit shown by the staff and pupils,” said Sallyanne Barson, communications manager at North Sea Link.

“National Grid operates a scheme where profits from the IT recycling process are regularly used to fund the donations of computers to good causes. We felt that Cambois Primary School would be a worthy recipient of some of this equipment to help the children with their learning across the curriculum.”

Marianne Allan, head teacher at Cambois Primary School, said:

“We are incredibly grateful to the team at North Sea Link for their generous donation and for the ongoing support of our school.

“The school does have its own IT suite but the addition of the new laptops will enable the children to have continued, remote access to online learning facilities across all of their subjects.

“On behalf of all of the staff and pupils, I would like to thank the project team at North Sea Link for making this possible.”

To find out more about the North Sea Link Interconnector project, visit www.northsealink.com.