Shirebrook teacher proud as school makes face visors for NHS workers

John Davey, a teacher of design and technology at Shirebrook Academy, said that it felt “empowering” for schools to be able to use their time, expertise and equipment to make PPE for medical staff to prevent them from being infected by the Covid-19 virus.

Mr Davey and his colleagues in the school’s design and technology department started making visors last month and has delivered hundreds to the Chesterfield Royal Hospital.

Schools across the country have been making visors for the NHS and Shirebrook Academy swung into action after an unnamed company donated £1,000 to the Aston Community Education Trust, of which the academy is a member, which it used to buy a large quantity of polypropylene.

The polypropylene is used to make the adjustable headbands, which consist of three components cut from the sheet by a laser cutter and then slotted together.

The A4 see-through visor is made from an acetate laminated pouch produced by the school’s office laminator.

It takes a just a matter of a few minutes to produce the visors and the school is capable of turning out up to 100 visors a day.

Mr Davey contacted both the Kings Mills Hospital in Mansfield and the Chesterfield Royal Hospital offering the visors and also plans to contact care homes in Shirebrook.

He said: “The visors are simple to make and quite rudimentary but plenty of schools up and down the country are making them and donating them to hospitals for use on the frontline.

“I feel very proud that, at a time when students aren’t at school and the population is on lockdown, schools are making this contribution and it feels empowering to be able to play our part too.

“It’s also very rewarding to see how design and technology departments have come to the fore during this crisis.

“We always explain how our subject involves taking a problem and finding a workable solution and this is a perfect example of how we are doing that in the real world and helping to save lives at the same time.”