A Shirebrook teacher has spoken of his pride at how schools have stepped up to join the UK’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic after he and his colleagues began making face visors to help protect NHS staff working on the front line.

John Davey, a teacher of design and technology at Shirebrook Academy, said that it felt “empowering” for schools to be able to use their time, expertise and equipment to make PPE for medical staff to prevent them from being infected by the Covid-19 virus.

John and his colleagues in the school’s design and technology department started making visors last month and delivered 200 to the Chesterfield Royal Hospital last week.

Schools across the country have been making visors for the NHS and Shirebrook Academy swung into action after an unnamed company donated £1,000 to the Aston Community Education Trust, of which the Academy is a member, which it used to buy a large quantity of polypropylene.

The polypropylene is used to make the adjustable headbands, which consist of three components cut from the sheet by a laser cutter and then slotted together.

The A4 see-through visor is made from an acetate laminated pouch produced by the school’s office laminator.

It takes a just a matter of a few minutes to produce the visors and the school is capable of turning out up to 100 visors a day.

John contacted both the King’s Mill Hospital in Sutton and the Chesterfield Royal Hospital, offering the visors, and also plans to contact care homes in Shirebrook.

He said: “The visors are simple to make and quite rudimentary but plenty of schools up and down the country are making them and donating them to hospitals for use on the frontline.

“I feel very proud that, at a time when students aren’t at school and the population is on lockdown, schools are making this contribution and it feels empowering to be able to play our part too.

“It’s also very rewarding to see how design and technology departments have come to the fore during this crisis.

“We always explain how our subject involves taking a problem and finding a workable solution and this is a perfect example of how we are doing that in the real world and helping to save lives at the same time.”

Mark Cottingham, principal of Shirebrook Academy, said: “We have all seen how the shortage of PPE equipment for NHS workers has become an important issue in the coronavirus outbreak and I am very proud to see how our school’s equipment and expertise are being put to good use in order to help protect the lives of workers in our local hospitals.”