Latymerians supporting the community during the coronavirus outbreak

We’re so proud of the way in which the Latymer Community has responded to the coronavirus pandemic. Our staff have been volunteering their time to support the most vulnerable children and children of key workers at The Latymer Hub; our parents immediately stepped up to volunteer their time and skills to help people in need in our community and our current and former pupils have been finding innovative ways to help our NHS, whether through creating PPE or taking on challenges to raise vital funds for charities supporting front line workers and those most in need.

Here are just a few of the highlights:

PPE equipment

We donated 350 pairs of safety goggles and 2100 pairs of gloves from the Science and Design departments to St George’s Hospital and the Primary Care Hub at Brook Green Medical Centre.

Former pupil, George Dzavaryan (2016), his brother Alex and 12 fellow Latymerians, all of whom have volunteered their help, have set up a production line at Latymer, making PPE face shields for the NHS. Using the 3D printing machines in our Design department, George, co-founder of Augment Bionics, initially crowdfunded to raise money for the materials needed to produce the face shields. They have so far distributed 12,000 shields free of charge to nearly 50 healthcare facilities around the UK – the first delivery was to a healthcare trust in North Wales where Latymerian Dr Klara Weaver currently works in A&E. They are distributing to hospitals and GP surgeries with the help of another Latymerian, Asha Dave, through Med Supply Drive, a voluntary organisation that allocates PPE where it is most needed in the NHS. The team has been inundated with messages of thanks from NHS personnel as PPE continues to be in short supply nationwide. Due to continuing demand, George and his Latymerian team have now moved to injection moulding and are increasing their capacity to 20,000 face shields per week. Latymer Upper is looking to support them in this incredible effort by helping raise funds for materials.  If you’d like to support this effort, or read more about George and his team of Latymerians, please click here

Lower Sixth pupil, Omar Daya and his family have been involved in making a new PPE product for the NHS in order to keep doctors and nurses safe during surgical procedures on Covid-19 patients. The St George’s Covid shield provides additional protection for NHS theatre teams performing an operation that allows Covid-19 patients to come off ventilators and be transferred out of intensive care units. It’s been used with great success at St George’s Hospital, minimising the risk of contamination and elevating the level of safety for our NHS staff. Omar has set up a justgiving page to crowdfund the production of this product and hopefully distribute it all around the country.

And during the Easter holidays, Upper Sixth pupil, Margaux Cooper, reached out to her peers about making protective visors for doctors like her parents, who both work in the NHS. She circulated a how-to-make powerpoint presentation and arranged to collect and deliver over 150 visors to Hammersmith hospital through her mum, with more families making and delivering visors to the hospital themselves after reading her email. The doctors in cardiac intensive care (now covid-19 ICU) at the Hammersmith were very grateful for their ‘Margaux masks’ and sent her a picture of them in action to say thank you.

Supporting the NHS and local Community

Hockey team – the Senior Hockey girls were determined to do something positive so set themselves a challenge to run as many kilometres as possible in one week. They ran a combined distance of 905km   – that’s more than 34 marathons or the distance from Latymer School to the tip of Scotland! So far they have raised over £3,640 for NHS Charities which supports frontline workers and volunteers in the NHS.

Netball team – and not to be outdone, the Latymer Senior Netball Squad wanted to raise money for the Trussell Trust – a food bank network providing emergency food to those who need it most. By running 450kms collectively in a week, they raised nearly £2,000.

Latymer Upper School’s Covid-19 Emergency Appeal – pupils and families are fundraising for the Imperial Health Charity which supports five London hospital – Charing Cross, Hammersmith, Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea, St Mary’s and the Western Eye. The monies raised will be donated to the trust’s special relief fund which helps hospital staff to cope with the extraordinary demands of fighting the virus as well as supporting vulnerable patients who face sudden and unexpected financial difficulties as a result of their hospital stay. Over £7,700 has been donated already.

Ian Lush, Chief Executive of Imperial Health Charity, said: “Imperial Health Charity is extremely grateful to all at Latymer Upper School for their wonderful support of our COVID-19 Relief Fund and our hospitals at this time. During this extremely challenging period, we’re determined to do everything we can to support our incredible NHS staff as well as the most vulnerable patients who suddenly find themselves in real financial difficulty.   Right now we’re working closely with our NHS colleagues to get support out to staff on the front line. Despite the extraordinary pressure, it’s clear that staff are responding in the most remarkable way.  Please give whatever you can to help our hospitals fight this virus and make sure our NHS staff get the best possible support.”

If you’d like to donate, just click on this link to go through to the justgiving page.

Community Support

Latymer Hub – in true Latymerian spirit, at the beginning of the lockdown our staff volunteered alongside Hammersmith Academy to come in and run The Latymer Hub, open to students from across Hammersmith and Fulham.   Working with Let me Play, this Easter Hub provided a fun and safe space for the children of key workers, the most vulnerable and those with EHCPs to come to. Over the Easter holidays, we had 20 children sign up from 10 local secondary schools, with staff putting on various activities – from cooking to model making – for them every day whilst observing social distancing guidance. The hub has stayed open since the start of term, supporting those families who need us.

Online learning support – thanks to the generosity of our parents and former pupils, we have been able to support secondary school pupils across the borough who didn’t have sufficient internet access at home. A deal has been negotiated with mobile network EE and 300 dongles distributed, ensuring that pupils – both Latymerians and pupils from schools across our local community – can continue with their learning by accessing their lessons and support online during the lockdown.

If you’d like to help us in our efforts to support the local community at this time, including running the Latymer Hub and providing local students with access to data, please click here 

Author: Karen Dove