At the beginning of June, we launched the second stage of our Rocket Fund pilot, with 30 state schools fundraising to buy the latest technology products.

Within a week, six of them are already over 25 per cent funded and one has received an incredible donation of £900.

Check out the new projects.

Pitch videos

This time round, we’ve actively encouraged schools to create pitch videos in order to personalise their pitch and improve their chances of success.

We’ve had a wonderful range of videos submitted, including this fantastic effort from a school in Northern Scotland.

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Tech@MPS - Bringing Technology to the pupils of Monquhitter Primary School

Example projects

Schools from across the country are taking part from Devon to Aberdeenshire. Here are just some of them.

What are schools fundraising for?

Schools are fundraising for an exciting range of products, including:

1. Spy cameras - to watch wildlife
2. A high-end PC - to create video games
3. VR headsets - to introduce students to the world of virtual reality
4. Drones - to setup a drone club
5. Music tech equipment - to create a school radio show
6. DSLR cameras - to create a video blogging club and documentary about girls in STEM
7. Programmable robots - to teach coding
8. A 360 degree camera - to teach filmmaking
9. iPads - to teach Computing
10. Chromebooks - to enable flipped learning

Bluebots not blue pupils - Mytchett Primary School are fundraising for a set of 6 Blue-Bots to learn how to code

Match funding from five businesses

During this latest round of funding, some schools are being supported with match funding from five businesses: BUSUU, Jisc, Mint Digital, pi-top and Croud.

Match funding means that every donation is doubled, so it makes it much easier for schools to hit their targets.

We still have lots of schools looking for match funding, so let us know if you'd like to support a school in your area.

A focus on tech

Since the last round, we’ve narrowed our focus to technology products.

There are two main reasons for this:

1. To help prepare students for the future: In times of tight budgets, funding for technology is often the first thing to be cut. This is despite 72 per cent of large companies reporting tech skill shortages (according to the DCMS, 2016)
2. And to align with our long term goal of building a database of reviews and case studies from teachers on technology products, to help teachers choose and use technology products better.

How you can get involved

Teachers: If your school would like to get involved with this wave, we're open for submissions until 14 June 2017. To get involved, just start creating a project here.

Businesses: If you’d like to match fund a school project on Rocket Fund, contact us on: [email protected]

Everyone: To support a school / browse all projects visit: rocket.fund/projects/

Any questions? Email us on: [email protected]