Leighton Park helps to provide fun face shield toppers for primary schools

The face shields initiative from Leighton Park’s partnership hub, Safer Vision, has discovered Covid-19 PPE can also be fun and friendly! With a recent flurry of orders from prep and primary schools preparing for the return of their pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 this week, the latest inspiration to hit the team in the DT workshop has been face shields toppers.

The group were conscious that many of those seeking face shields for their staff were schools working with younger children. Although the shields are transparent and the wearer’s face is clearly visible, it may be that some pupils would find them unusual additions to their teachers’ wardrobes. By adding a brightly-coloured, laminated face shield topper to the headband, the face shield becomes a fun feature, akin to dressing up, an activity which many children adore!

The face shields team are sharing the link http://tiny.cc/shieldtoppers with schools interested in adding the toppers to their PPE collections.

Although the government guidelines do not specify that face shields are mandatory for school staff returning to work either in the classroom or in a support role, many Senior Leader Teams are keen to ensure their staff are confident and feel protected. The face shields are part of their efforts to reassure those staff who are anxious, without unduly worrying the children.

So far Safer Vision has received requests for over 6,000 face shields from almost 120 primary and prep schools expecting to open their doors on the 1^st of June.

“Thanks so much for organising the masks – we really appreciated them!” said Clare at Winnersh Primary, echoed by Sam Brasier, Administrator at Farley Hill Primary: “Thank you so much for supplying us with face shields.” Charli Pyle, Office Manager at The Ridgeway Primary School said, “Thank you so much, it has been so wonderful seeing the community pull together like this – we really do appreciate the effort everyone at Leighton Park (including all the fabulous volunteers) for trying to help us keep our staff safe in these uncertain times.”

If you would like to learn more about the face shields hub partnership, it was featured in episode 3 of Ross Kemp’s BBC One documentary series, ‘Britain’s Volunteer Army’, and can be seen on iplayer at https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000jfbq/ross-kemp-and-britains-volunteer-army-series-1-episode-3 until 17th June 2020.

The partners involved in Safer Vision, in addition to Leighton Park School, are Denefield School, Prospect School, Bulmershe School, Reading Blue Coat, Luckley House School, Holme Grange School, Forest School, Brackenhale, Edgbarrow School, Waingels College, Garth Hill College, Ranelagh School, Little Heath School, Hurst School, St Joseph’s College, Reading College, Shiplake College and the Maiden Erlegh Group together with the University of Reading and commercial organisations Neal’s Export Packaging Ltd, rLab and Designworks, Windsor.