Chesterfield News

Outwood Academy Newbold donates PPE to local key workers

A secondary academy based in Chesterfield has donated PPE equipment to Chesterfield Royal Hospital and Elm Lodge Care Home in Newbold.

Outwood Academy Newbold has donated plastic gowns and 300 pairs of goggles from its science labs to Chesterfield Royal Hospital to assist staff during the current coronavirus outbreak.

Students and staff have also been busy making PPE visors using laminator pouches, plastic sheeting and cut with the academy’s laser cutter. The visors have since been donated to Elm Lodge Care Home in Chesterfield.

Steve Roberts, Principal of Outwood Academy Newbold, said: “We are in the midst of a national crisis and it is time that we believe we all need to come together to support each other to help the country get through this situation. This is why we decided to take action to do what we can to help our NHS.”

“Obviously we aren’t equipped with the medical equipment that can be of use to the NHS, but as a school we do have science labs and as such we have plenty of goggles which are of use so we decided to donate them.”

“We will continue to make more visors like this and have offered it out to other care homes in the local area.”

Outwood Academy Newbold is part of the new North Derbyshire Careers Hub, a network of 21 schools and colleges working together to transform careers education for young people across the region.

Led by the D2N2 LEP, with financial support from the Careers & Enterprise Company, the Careers Hub works collaboratively with local schools, universities, training providers, employers, Enterprise Advisers, careers professionals and Shirebrook Academy to deliver the Gatsby Benchmarks and improve careers outcomes for young people.

In addition, the Careers Hub also offers a central fund for employer engagement activities and training for a ‘Careers Leader’ in each school.

Daniel Heffernan, D2N2 Careers Hub Lead, said: “We are delighted that the students are using this time to both increase their employability skills whilst supporting our fantastic NHS.”

Click here to find out more about the North Derbyshire Careers Hub

Dom Stevens

Destination Chesterfield Manager

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