Partners in Production

Given the media coverage on the desperate lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) available for our courageous NHS and frontline staff, it should have come as no surprise that demand exploded once word began to spread that we could supply face shields.

What was a much greater surprise to the team at Leighton Park was the enthusiasm and the willingness of other organisations to get involved and to commit their resources to supporting the NHS through our face shields initiative. This has enabled the School to be at the centre of a huge face shield manufacturing operation, establishing a network of 18 manufacturing partners. After only a week, consortium has provided 6,000 face shields to 79 organisations at the frontline of the Covid-19 response. This includes 8 hospitals and 18 GP surgeries.

Initially we received some tentative enquiries from individuals working in a variety of secondary schools across Berkshire about the possibility of joining production, utilising their DT workshops and redundant laser cutters. The majority of those who contacted us were keen to play a part in keeping the nation safe and to proffer their skills in the service of others. Some had a small team behind them, others were operating on their own, but all wanted to get involved. The desire to make a difference shone through every conversation and it wasn’t long before we had half a dozen schools on board.

Partnering with others gave us the opportunity to expand our efforts and increase production. Sharing the results on social media attracted even more schools to join us and by Wednesday there were 10 schools involved in the partnership. The partnership now consisted of Denefield School, Edgbarrow School, Prospect School, Reading Blue Coats, Shiplake College, Holme Grange School, The Forest School, Brackenhale School, Waingels College and The Bulmershe School. All being co-ordinated by logistics wonderwoman, Sally Pearce (Matron of Reckitt House). Dedicated to developing and supporting partners, our resident staff, Myles Nash (Head of Boarding) and Adrian Stewart (Head of Lower School), pursued yet more promising leads suggested by social media and were successful in securing the support of two local businesses outside the education sector, Neal’s Export Packaging Ltd, in Silchester, and rLAB, a community workshop space.

“I’ve been going in to work on this during the evenings as the business is too busy in the day,” said Matt Bargus, 3D CAD designer at Neal’s Export Packaging, an organisation specialising in creating bespoke packaging solutions for industry, including the automotive, aviation, medical and defense sectors. “I really hope it makes a difference. It is a clever design and if it just saves one person it will have been worth it. I’ve not worked with this kind of material before, but our industry is about solving problems on every job and I’ve learnt how to cut this now. It could be useful in the future, although hopefully not for another pandemic!”

Matt’s CNC machine can cut out an entire polypropylene sheet of headbands in just 11 and a half minutes, a job which takes the Leighton Park laser cutter an hour. “I’ve perfected my technique now,” laughed Matt, “I’ve got a routine. Nuances make a big difference when you’re working a repetitive process.” Matt is also helping to develop the face shield production process with an idea he has for a new tool. After discussion with the School’s DT team and his toolmaker, Matt has ordered a new tool that, combined with his existing equipment, might enable him to machine as many as 900 back straps an hour. “That would be pretty cool! Then I can have the weekend off!”

At Denefield School production is also getting more efficient by the minute. From creating 200 face shields on their first day of production last Tuesday, the small team are today hoping for an output of 500. Contrary to Leighton Park who had access to the materials but required laser cutters, Tina Simpson, who is leading the process at Denefield School said, “I had the facilities but not the materials and saw that Leighton Park were looking for helpers.”

Tina continued “The school is open for us from 8.00am – 4.00pm, so in this time I have been laser cutting whilst the rest of the team assemble the masks. Mrs Sharman our PE Teacher has been exchanging them with Myles at Leighton Park in return for more materials. We are hoping to get even more people involved at the school.”

Mrs Sharman’s children have also been getting involved in the workshop, bringing with them their cheerful rainbow paintings to keep moral high and remind everyone of the motive behind all of this; our fantastic healthcare workers up and down the country.

“We know a lot of people who work in the NHS who are treating patients without the proper PPE. It is just the right thing to do,” remarked Sonja Allen from the Design Technology department at Forest School, who is working with her colleague Nicky Collins to do their bit.

The two-strong team, have been making a significant impact since they spotted a call for help on a local social media page. So far, in just three days Sonja and Nicky have produced 480 face shields.

Nicky commented “The school is completely closed, so we contacted the Head as soon as we found out about the initiative and effectively snuck in to start producing the face shields the very next day.”

She continued “It has definitely been a learning curve for us as we haven’t used the material before, but we’ve got ourselves into a rhythm now. We’ve got the skills and we just wanted to do something.”

Response in the community continues to be uplifting and rewarding. Bernadine Blease from Berkshire Healthcare responded to their delivery last week, “A huge Thank You from all at Berkshire Healthcare. I think you could see from the smiles, how happy our teams are with the visors. They like the minimalist design as it’s less hot than the foam-type head bands.”

Andrew Haydon an A&E Nurse stated, “Thank you for your support of Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust with these masks! It really means a lot that people in the community are pulling together!”

From today, Tuesday 14^th April, three more local schools are providing their services; Little Heath in Tilehurst, Ranelagh in Bracknell and St Joseph’s College in Reading. In addition, the University of Reading will bolster output with their two impressive laser cutters, as they also get involved.