We are delighted to share the news that our Head of DT, Mark Smith, has been nominated for a ‘Pride of Reading’ award by Deputy Head Girl, Ellie. The accolade comes as a result of Mark’s incredible work, founding the Safer Vision Hub Partnership in the Easter holidays, a collaboration of 18 schools and 3 commercial partners, whose tireless efforts created over 39,000 face shields for over 500 organisations. Berkshire’s hospitals, hospices, care homes, pharmacies, NHS key workers, doctors’ surgeries and more benefitted from the production of the face shields which protected those in the frontline of the fight against Covid-19 at the start of UK’s experience of the pandemic.
The awards, now in their 17th year, recognise both individuals and organisations who have gone the extra mile and this year the pandemic has brought forward some truly exceptional candidates.
Entered for the ‘Employee of the Year’ category, Mark Smith’s nomination describes his amazing achievement: ‘At the start of lockdown Mark Smith single handedly set up a face shields factory from the DT lab in our school. This grew into a cottage factory setting with volunteers and partner schools from around the county. These face shields were vital PPE for a community struggling to cope with the virus. In our opinion, this act of kindness and compassion to help others has saved potentially thousands of lives. It also helped to reduce anxiety for those exposed to the virus on a daily basis through their work. … We believe Mark is a true hero and legend within the School and now in Reading.’’
This week, as we approach the end of an unprecedented year, gift books from Leighton Park have been shared with the other organisations in the hub partnership commemorating the work of the partnership over the summer months.
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