Starting Point Community Learning Partnership

Another week of quietly getting stuff done 💛 95 people supported (excluding HAF), 55 people connected with free data, 9 devices gifted and £6,819 worth of equipment and connectivity put straight back into our community — removing digital barriers one person at a time. Thanks to everyone involved 💛

This week we welcomed Lisa Smart - Liberal Democrats to our busy Digital Job Club. At the same session, one of our new participants told us she felt overwhelmed by looking for work and worried that dyslexia would hold her back.

She has years of work experience and plenty to offer an employer. What she needed was someone to sit alongside her and help make the increasingly digital process of finding work accessible. With a little support (and some help from AI) she left with a new CV, ideas for less physically demanding roles and a plan to come back and take the next step.

Because today, looking for work is a digital skill. CVs. Indeed. Online application forms. Uploading documents. Emails. Universal Credit journals. AI. Video interviews.

If we want everyone to have a fair chance of finding work, digital skills, devices, data and accessible support have to be part of the employment support ecosystem.

We’ve shared more about why this matters here: https://startpoint.org.uk/2026/08/21/digital-skills-are-an-accessibility-issue-when-looking-for-work/

Our work and digital skills support in Woodley and Offerton is free for any participant and kindly funded by CDL Software

Digital Skills Are an Accessibility Issue When Looking for Work We were delighted to welcome our local MP Lisa Smart to our busy Digital Job Club this week, where she had the opportunity to see first-hand why digital skills need to be part of the conversation a…

Meet the Starting Point Community Learning Partnership volunteers, who are powering digital confidence, supporting residents to make connections and overcome digital exclusion across Stockport.

From providing affordable devices and data to helping people develop practical digital skills, they're opening up a whole digital world for residents of all ages. You can read their story here:
https://orlo.uk/Z2TKu

Know someone who's making a difference in your local area? Nominate them for We Are One Stockport and help us to celebrate them:
https://orlo.uk/xf9RI

Starting Point is a key partner of the DigiKnow digital inclusion network, led by Stockport Council. To find out more about DigiKnow, call the DigiKnow Helpline on 07724 217888 or visit the link in the comments.

Good luck to everyone collecting their GCSE results today! 🎓

An extra special good luck from all of us at Starting Point to our very own Oliver and to students across Stockport taking that big next step today.

And a little bit of digital inclusion in action! Some Stockport students are among those able to access their results digitally through the new Education Record app for the first time, as it rolls out nationally.

Whatever your results say today, they are just one part of your story and what comes next. 💙

Good luck, Class of 2026 — you’ve got this! Find out more about the app here

What does the new app for GCSE results look like? After a trial last year, the Education Record app is rolling out across the UK in time for GCSE results.

Penultimate day of our summer club and back in one of our favourite places. Thanks so much to Projekts MCR Skatepark and the young people who have chosen spend their summer with us ❤️ one last day tomorrow ☀️

Tonight, many of us received a national emergency alert warning of the very high risk of wildfires across the UK.

We absolutely recognise the importance of these alerts and support having a national way to quickly communicate vital information.

But we also know that, for some people, an unexpected alert sounding on a phone can create a very different kind of risk.
Some people experiencing domestic abuse or living in volatile situations keep a hidden or secondary phone as part of their safety planning. An unexpected sound or vibration from that phone could reveal its existence.

We created a simple guide explaining how emergency alerts work and how they can be managed on a hidden phone for anyone who may be at risk.

Please share it. You may never know who in your network needs this information – and sharing it could help someone stay safe.
https://startingpoint.getlearnworlds.com/course/free-learner-guide-government-emergency-alert-september-2025

Hats off to our team this week. 😎☀😎

It’s been unbelievably hot, half the team have been on leave, and those here have kept going – supporting 126 people across Stockport to thrive online.

This week we’ve also gifted £9,350 worth of equipment and mobile data: 55 SIM cards, a laptop, a tablet and two phones. That’s money local people simply haven’t had to find themselves.

Add in 16 sessions and 26 brilliant volunteer hours, and it’s been quite a week.

Half a team. One very hot week. £9,350 back into Stockport communities - we are pretty proud of that!

This week, 105 people learned new digital skills across our community sessions, alongside 18 workshops, 26 volunteer hours and almost £5,000 worth of devices and connectivity gifted to local residents.

But behind every number is a person. One particpant has been coming to us for a long time. This week she popped in with a new bank card and needed to update the payment details on her phone before a hospital appointment. Normally we'd encourage people to learn by doing, but as she explained she is caring for her husband while also living with the effects of memory loss following a stroke. Looking at everything she was juggling, the most valuable thing we could do wasn't deliver a lesson, it was simply take one worry away.

As we updated everything together, she smiled and said, "I don't know what I'd do without the community around me."

Digital inclusion isn't always about teaching someone to use technology. Sometimes it's about making technology one less thing to worry about when life is already hard. Thank you to our volunteers, partners and supporters who make weeks like this possible. Every session, every donated device and every conversation helps someone stay connected, independent and confident.

How to connect hearing aids to a smart phone is one of our most common questions right now. It seems people aren’t getting that support they need from the hearing aid providers or hospitals. Frustrating as that is, we can help. Get in touch and we will point you to one of our drop in sessions throughout Stockport.

When Technology Finally Started Working When Stuart came along to our digital support session at Bramhall Library, he was feeling pretty fed up. Stuart is blind and also hard of hearing. He had recently been given new hearing aids that c…

A day at the cricket watching Manchester Super Giants at the hundred with 21 young people! 🏏 What a brilliant day and so far the rain has stayed away. 🌤️🌤️ Loving our summer experiences as part of Stockport Council HAF. 🏏