Textiles and PPE Projects - Covid-19 Response Outreach

Our DT and Textiles departments worked alongside wider staff and students, during March-July 2020, to make PPE and Scrubs/face masks for our local NHS community.

Our Key Worker students in the Junior and Senior School were involved in a series of textiles workshops in school, learning how to sew masks and scrubs. Teachers were also involved in this as part of key worker care over that period.

Alongside the 'Scrubs with Love' project, we also ran a 'Messages of Hope' strand for students at home and in school to write uplifting messages for our NHS community when receiving the scrubs.

We used patterns from Scrub Hub to generate the designs and are continuing to make Masks for a local homeless charity called 'Glassdoor'.

Aims

- To produce PPE visors, scrubs and face masks to help our local HNS community.

- To involve our pupils and staff in this as much as possible, through offering workshops as part of our key worker pupil provision as well as allowing pupils at home to contribute virtually by writing messages of hope.

- The project was of benefit to our key worker pupils and staff - in terms of learning skills - as well as our pupils at home. In turn we offered the PPE and scrubs to local NHS workers.

Background

- The partnership was launched by the Deputy Head Co-curricular and Outreach and one of our Textiles and art teachers, as well as our Head of DT within the first two weeks of lockdown in March 2020

- The project has continued since then, with a Year 9 club set up with a sewing focus, who are currently creating masks for the homeless charity Glassdoor, who gave a virtual talk to our students in October 2020.

Resources

- We have been asking for donations of material as well as diverting Co-curricular budget to the project.

- The project is completed in our DT and textiles facilities.

- Over 25 members of staff have been involved, along with 40+ students (mostly Years 2-9).

Impact

We have produced over 100 sets of PPE and 25 sets of scrubs. We have the aim of producing approximately 50 masks for Glassdoor.

Pupil Involvement

Pupils from Y2-9 have been involved.

Frequency

This is an ongoing project that involved workshop days in the summer term of 2020 and now involves weekly lunchtime sessions for sewing as part of our co-curricular programme.