Lynne Neagle, Cabinet Secretary for Education
As the new school year begins, I am delighted to confirm that we have renewed our national Microsoft 365 licence, enabling every learner and teacher in Wales to have equitable access to essential digital services.
This is fantastic news for learners, schools and families right across Wales.
Renewing the licence is about much more than digital services, it’s about giving all learners the same opportunities to thrive. We know that access to bilingual digital services helps narrow the attainment gap, supports independent learning and builds the skills young people need to succeed.
Wales was one of the first countries in the world to provide all maintained schools with access to Microsoft 365 services back in 2019. Retaining the national licence demonstrates my commitment to digital equity and inclusion, while helping to ease the financial pressure on schools and enabling them to maximise the benefits of digital technology in education.
Learners and teachers can use the same Microsoft 365 services at home, for free. Over 122,000 learners and teachers across Wales are benefitting from this access, saving families £84.99 for a personal Microsoft 365 licence.
Our support doesn’t stop there.
I am fully committed to providing all maintained schools with access to a range of bilingual digital infrastructure, services and online resources through the Hwb platform. The Hwb programme is making sure every school, learner and teacher has access to the technology they need to support the Curriculum for Wales. A further £12 million this year has enabled schools to purchase over 37,000, taking the number of laptops and end user devices to over 300,000 since 2019.
I am proud of what we have achieved, and I am determined to ensure that the foundations of the Hwb programme help to inspire our teachers and learners to create a culture to embed digital practice.
By removing barriers to technology, we can all help our learners grow into confident, creative and critical users of digital services, ready to thrive in a global digital society.