CATCH up lessons for pupils who have missed out during this latest lockdown can be put on at Easter and during the summer, according to Middlesbrough’s Mayor.

Council chiefs signed off £350,000 for laptops, tablets and internet dongles on Tuesday in a bid to ensure more than 1,000 children in the town do not miss out on remote learning.

But mayor Andy Preston believed the authority could go further to help families and youngsters who’d been held back during the pandemic.

He said: “What I hope is, come Easter, we’ll introduce some catch up lessons for those who want them.

“And in the summer we’ll go above and beyond what the Government is talking about and have some catch up lessons so all kinds of kids can get involved with the connectivity and devices we’ve provided to narrow that gap between the haves and the have nots.”

It’s understood Middlesbrough is the first town or city in the country to pledge every child will have access to an internet device to support their education.

More than 1,200 devices and 260 internet dongles will come as part of the new agreement.

Middlesbrough has some of the most deprived wards in the country – with a study by Loughborough University finding 42 per cent of youngsters lived below the breadline in 2018/19, before housing costs were taken into account.

Chiefs are hoping the devices provide a lasting legacy after head teachers identified equipment gaps that left children at risk of being left behind.

Council reports showed 1,408 devices had been delivered to maintained schools so far – with about 7,000 sent to academy trusts.

But authority papers warned there was still a gap between the number of disadvantaged pupils in the borough and the total number of devices sent out by the Department for Education.

Mr Preston said covid was impacting Middlesbrough more than almost anywhere else.

Cllr Chris Hobson, executive member for finance, warned children were falling further and further behind in the town.

She added: “We’ve got to do it, the money is there – and we’ve found it without a problem.

“We’re going down the road of providing money to the schools so they’re able to get this – we may have been able to get a better deal going out to tender but we haven’t got the time.

“We need to get these to the schools and children as soon as we possibly can.”

Cllr Mieka Smiles told the panel they wanted to get youngsters back to school as soon as it was safe to do so – and believed the purchase pledge would help children catch up.

The executive member for communities and education added: “We know the inequality gap is widening as a result of children not being in school – and we want to make sure we’re doing everything we can as a council to remove those barriers and make sure that gap doesn’t widen.”

After the decision, Mr Preston said: “I’m determined that no child in our town will be disadvantaged simply because they can’t get online.

“Businesses and charities around town are doing great work on this and I’m confident this solution from the council will have long-lasting benefits.”