A group of teachers from across Merseyside have produced hundreds of vital face shields to help protect frontline workers from coronavirus.

Staff from Studio@Deyes, Deyes High School and Childwall Sports & Science Academy have come together amid a national shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE).

Demand for the face shields has been huge, with enquiries flooding in from across the North West since the team shared their design on Facebook last week.

Within an hour of the post going live, between 300-500 orders had been made from hospitals in Liverpool and Manchester, alongside requests from police forces, paramedics and GPs – a nursing home in Wolverhampton even got in touch to see if it could have the vital equipment delivered.

John Parry, head of school at Studio@Deyes – an engineering specialist college which forms the Lydiate Learning Trust with Deyes High School and Childwall Sports & Science Academy – says: “We follow a lot of design and technology forums on Facebook and noticed that many D&T (design and technology) departments were starting to manufacture PPE masks for frontline staff.

“Here at Studio@Deyes (based in Wavertree Technology Park) we’ve got big open spaces where we can still practise social distancing, as well as all the equipment needed [to produce the masks].

“[The lack of PPE for frontline workers] is so sad. I had a paramedic here today who was telling me they have nothing left.

“We don’t know if the masks meet certain standards but the feedback we’ve had from frontline workers is that [the masks] are better than wearing nothing at all.”

So far the team has been utilising school resources to produce the masks but materials are now beginning to run low.

John adds: “The local community have been brilliant. People have ordered elastic for the masks off Amazon for us and others have been coming to the school to drop off bags of elastic.

“But we’re now starting to run out of plastic. We’ve put out a call to all the secondary schools in Liverpool to see if they have got any thin plastic which is used to cover notice boards – that’s what we are using to make the visors.”

The Lydiate Learning Trust PPE project was conceived by John Parry (Studio@Deyes), Kev Barber (Studio@Deyes), Ste Norbury (Deyes High School) and John Fitzsimmons (Childwall Sports & Science Academy).

Anyone who would like to donate towards the cost of materials and delivery can do so here.

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