As people and organisations across the UK pull together to combat the Covid-19 outbreak, staff at Uppingham School have been eager to help our local community in any way they can.
Head of Design and Technology, Clive Simmons, has spearheaded an initiative to produce essential face visors for NHS staff, using laser-cutting equipment in school. The NHS urgently needs more of these visors, which are used over normal face masks to protect the wearer from the virus. The materials required cost just 30 pence per visor. To help ramp up production, Clive set up a JustGiving page to raise money for materials and potentially purchase more equipment to increase output.
Clive says: “My target was to raise £500 to make around 1,500 masks. However, the response has been incredible, and after just three days we have raised more than £7,000. We’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of our community and friends of the school – their support will help us to make a huge difference to local healthcare teams.”
The first batches of visors are being supplied to North West Anglia NHS Trust, as well as GPs and nursing homes in Rutland and Lincolnshire.
Elsewhere, our Science department has donated its stock of goggles, disposable gloves and aprons to St Mary’s Birth Centre in nearby Melton Mowbray. Expectant mothers in Leicestershire are being diverted to the centre, which required more essential personal protective equipment (PPE) to keep up with demand.
The nursing staff at the school’s Woodfield Health Centre have also donated their stocks of PPE to Uppingham Surgery.
In the first week of the lockdown, with the school closed, our Head of Operations delivered all of our perishable food items, along with cleaning products, to two local care homes – Aberdeen House and Wisteria House.
Dr Richard Maloney, Headmaster, says, "The ingenuity and determination of the Uppingham community has shone through in this crisis – from the way they have adapted to teaching, learning and working remotely, to the way they have rallied round to support those on the frontline in the fight against coronavirus."
.jpg&command_2=resize&height_2=85 "Uppingham partners with LOROS in national first project")
