Maddie, a student from Victoria School in Poole, is on course to realise her talent for graphic design, thanks to financial support to the school from Talbot Village Trust.

A non-maintained, Ofsted-Good special school, Victoria School offers specialised, high-quality education, therapy and care for young people aged three-19 and it is partnered with Liveability.

Talbot Village Trust provided funding towards ICT improvements including computers, robust Wi-Fi coverage and a faster network.

This year’s post-16 students were able to use the new equipment and state of the art software which has made a huge difference to their GCSE results.

Maddie relies on technology in her education and through the new equipment is now able to use professional software. The improvements are ongoing and due for completion this year, but the work already undertaken enabled Maddie to achieve a Level 4 in her Art & Design GCSE, higher than her predicted grade.

Maddie said: “I’m so happy with my GCSE results. I really like the challenge of working with IT and the new programmes. They are not easy, but I am beginning to learn the skills to get better at graphic design. I enjoy working on computers in general and now we have the faster computers it means they don’t crash and go slow – it’s much better.”

Victoria School students rely on solid, fast and up-to-date IT infrastructure for effective use of their PC’s and devices. This is not only confined to classroom computers but extends to the devices the students use to communicate with and to control their environment. Over the years, technological innovation has offered increased accessibility options and career paths for disabled users.

Maddie’s teacher David Henley said: “The £50,000 grant from Talbot Village Trust has provided my students with a much-improved learning experience without the frustrations they encountered with our older equipment. They have been able to use industry standard software in order to produce near professional work in graphic design, photography and video editing. I would like to thank the Talbot Village Trust on behalf of the students and staff.”

Maddie is due to return to Victoria School next year to gain further GCSE qualifications.

The trust meets bi-annually with the next review taking place in the autumn for applications submitted this summer. The deadline for the next round of applications is 31 January 2023 which will be reviewed in the spring.