Schools throughout the UK have been donating science googles and other apparatus to NHS workers battling on the frontline against the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Since measures to tackle the spread of the virus were accelerated last week, NHS England and the Government have made a major effort to address concerns about protective gear.
As well as gathering millions of pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) from the British army, schools have been doing their bit by donating goggles, glasses and other items to NHS staff in desperate need of protective gear.
One of the first schools to supply equipment was Huntington School in York, North Yorkshire. Last week their headteacher, John Tomsett, tweeted: “We’ve been asked by York hospital for all the PPE we have in school; one of our mums is a staff nurse. We have dozens of pairs of goggles, rubber gloves etc., which we are sending down to them.”
Since then, many other schools have offered help.
St James School in Exeter has donated over 200 items of PPE which have been distributed to eight different GP surgeries.
Lindsay Skinner, headteacher at the school said: “On Sunday my best friend, who is a paediatrician, contacted me to ask if my school had any PPE. I said that we had goggles and glasses in science and technology.
“I hadn’t imagined that they would be of much use as they are secondary school quality, not medical grade quality. However, she put me in contact with Lowri Harris, the lead south-west GP appraiser, who was very clear: school-quality PPE is better than no PPE.”
Hathershaw College, situated in Oldham, Lancashire, has donated 1,500 pairs of gloves, 150 aprons, 20 masks and 10 pairs of goggles to local doctors and nurses.