Harborough secondary school is backing a new county-wide initiative to support NHS frontline staff

A Market Harborough secondary school is backing a new county-wide initiative to support NHS frontline staff.

Welland Park Academy is throwing its weight behind the innovative scheme to donate protective kit to health service medics fighting the coronavirus outbreak.

Julie McBrearty, principal at the Welland Park Road school, said: “It’s a fantastic idea.

“The project’s been launched by Liam Powell, the head at Manor High School in Oadby.

“He’s urging every secondary school in Leicestershire to take part and it’s got off to a great start.”

She said they were rounding up vital equipment in short supply such as aprons, gloves and masks to take to Leicester Royal Infirmary.

“We’ve scoured our science department to pile up as much kit as we can to help protect doctors, nurses and other staff at the sharp end,” said Julie.

“We’ll take it all to the LRI and they’ll distribute it among hospitals throughout the county.

“Liam Powell, who lives locally, deserves all the credit for getting this off the ground.

“NHS staff need and deserve all the help we can give them – they are under so much pressure at the moment.”

Echoing Dan Cleary, the head of Harborough’s Robert Smyth Academy, Julie said she’s had a brilliant response from the community after being forced to shut.

“Just as Dan has found we have also enjoyed fantastic support from our parents.

“Nearly every mum and dad as done as they’ve been asked and kept their child at home during this very challenging time,” she said.

“We have just under 1,000 students here – and just seven to 10 are actually coming in to school now.

“They are the children of critical workers, such as NHS medics, and vulnerable youngsters.

“We are using an online learning platform to teach pupils at home.

“We’ve had one or two teething problems, naturally, but we are all now starting to grips with this new way of learning.

“Students are becoming much more proficient at writing emails and these new skills will stand them in very good stead as they go on to further education and applying for jobs.

“It’s not been easy and we’ve all had to step up very quickly.

“But we will all become much better online learners and teachers as a consequence.”

Julie said her 45 teachers had worked tirelessly to set up clear lines of communication with students, parents and fellow staff.

“We are basically looking at a whole new dimension of education as almost every child learns at home for the time being.

“We have always been incredibly lucky here with the huge level of parental support we receive,” she said.

“And this crisis has just highlighted how much that means to us.

“There is a lot of uncertainty and anxiety and I feel particularly bad for our Year 11 students after their GCSE exams were cancelled.

“It’s very frustrating because these children were on a mission and that’s now been called off out of the blue.

“But they’ve been very stoical and strong about it and I’m proud of them all.

“We’ve had to postpone their Prom, which means so much to them.

“But we’ll reschedule it, we won’t cancel it.

“This virus pandemic will pass and we are just hoping to return to some sort of normality as soon as possible.

“At least one of our staff has become an NHS volunteer and they are all working so hard at such a worrying time.

“We will formally close for the two-week Easter holiday on Friday April 3.

“We’ll still be open for the children of essential workers and set homework.

“But we won’t be scheduling lessons, everyone deserves a proper break.”