Once the school closed there was a lot of concern being raised both by parents in our own community and in the press over the lack of PPE equipment for care workers in the front line. At the same time there were a number of initiatives around the world looking at ways of addressing some of the immediate needs.
Lord Williams' School decided they could help and so they first raided their stores for safety googles and then decided to look into how they could start manufacturing PPE equipment with the resources they had. They wanted to help meet some of the local demands and so Design Technology Technician, Mr Jordan Marsh looked into what the school could do to help. He had soon identified a face shield based on a proven Swedish design and started 3D printing them four at a time, using both his own machine and one from school. Whilst still printing and maintaining social distancing he started contacting local health workers to plan out how to meet some of the needs, and set up a sterilising and packaging system for the face shields produced.
They soon had four 3D printers up and running virtually full time and started providing face shields to those who have a connection to the school or local community. So far we have donated well over 200 to Aylesbury hospitals, 110 to the The Whiteleaf Centre (Oxford Health NHS Trust), 50 to local pharmacies, 40 to Abbeyfield Care Home in Haddenham, 50 to The Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth (London), 150 to Barnet Hospital in London (via a former Lord Williams’s pupil), and 200 to Wokingham Borough Council. Alongside this they also provided some to 3D Printworld in Aylesbury who are also running a successful local initiative, supporting many care organisations working on the front-line.
At the last count they had made over 900 face shields to protect care workers in their battle with Covid-19. Who would have believed that the contributions parents and the local community have made to the equipment they were using the with KS3, 4 and 5 students, would be needed to help contribute to saving lives and protecting the health of those in our communities! A big thank you to all those who have supported the school in making such equipment available to our students in recent years.
