Earlier this month, we shared that six alumni were producing personal protective equipment (PPE) for NHS workers, and since Easter, we have heard from more alumni who are involved in similar work.
Alumnus Dominic Evans, Head of Product Design Technology (DT) at Dean Close School in Cheltenham, has joined the efforts, and has made 1,000 visors. The school produced a couple of different versions of the visors, with one model costing approximately 90 pence per unit to produce - with all visors being donated. Dominic graduated from Loughborough with a degree in Industrial Design and Technology with Education in 1999. In a school article, he said:
It is great to be able to use our resources that were sat idle during the school closure, for some good.
I know there are a good number of the DT community across the world doing what they can at the moment, be it from home or, on site where they can get access.
More than 300 visors were made at Ladybridge High School in Bolton, where alumnus Philip Cotton (Industrial Design and Technology 2003) is Assistant Director of Standard for Design & Technology and Art. One of the first schools to support the effort, Ladybridge featured in a BBC News report in March.
Having raised more than £8,000 for materials, alumnus Thomas Banham (Industrial Design and Technology 2012; PGCE 2013), a teacher at Oakham School in Rutland, has been involved in producing thousands of shields. Working alongside colleagues at the school and Rutland Plastics, Tom and the team hope to continue their work to support the NHS and are looking at producing around 30,000 visors.
In Coventry, husband and wife duo Lorna and Simon Trout are producing masks from home, using school materials to contribute to the effort. Lorna (pictured below) shared on Twitter “home has now been turned into a factory!”.
Lorna, a teacher at Langley School, Solihull, and Simon, Director of Learning (DT) at The Nuneaton Academy, met whilst studying for their PGCEs in Design in Technology at Loughborough in 2009. Between them they have produced more than 1,000 visors and donated them to hospitals, care homes and GP practices, and they are working on their next batch of 1,000!
Fellow Loughborough graduates Cathy Stevenson (Industrial Design and Technology with Education 1997) and Jim Mark (Industrial Design and Technology with Education 2000), who work together at Iveshead School in Shepshed, have also been making PPE Visors for use in the local community.
Jim said:
We have delivered visors directly to care homes, carers, Royal Mail, doctors and NHS staff in the Shepshed and Loughborough area.
We are both pleased that the skills we possess as Design Technology teachers are being shown to be helpful in this time of need.
Well done to everyone involved in this work.
The mask designs can be found on Kitronik and are downloadable for free.
Are you a teacher who is supporting a similar project? Get in touch.
Images: Lorna Trout and Jim Mark