As the third national lockdown and school closures were announced on 4 January, millions of students across England were devastated by the impact this would have on their education. It is largely accepted that children belong in school, and online learning can never substitute the school experience and personal interactions young people need. While this is a challenging time for all students, it is undeniably worse for those who suffer from digital poverty. The Department for Education has launched the ‘get help with technology’ programme to distribute free laptops to young people and is working in partnership with several mobile network operators to provide free mobile data increases to disadvantaged families.