Schools to make 25,000 more protective visors for NHS staff and care workers

Schools say they will soon be producing 5,000 protective visors a day for NHS and healthcare workers.

Kelvinside Academy in the West End of Glasgow has been one of the schools involved in a remarkable 'war effort'.

A crowdfunding campaign launched last week has already smashed its £50,000 target and a new total of £75,000 has been set.

The visors are being made staff at several schools.

The hope now is that staff can make a further 25,000 visors over the next week for hospitals and care homes.

Schools are using laser cutters and 3-D printers at their sites to make the equipment.

One S2 pupil at Kelvinside, Ben Faulkner, has been making the visors at home during lockdown.

A logistics firm, Badaboom, has also been brought onboard to help with mail order deliveries.

'ViseUp'

The visors-for-frontline-staff project has even been given a name: ViseUp.

The fundraising campaign was set up by Finnieston arts and music venue SWG3 after it heard how Kelvinside and other schools were making visors.

In just five days, the venue has raised over £58,000, which will go directly to the production of laser-cut visors for frontline NHS workers.

So far, Kelvinside, Larbert High School, Caldervale High School and their wider partner schools' network have produced and delivered more than 12,000 custom-built visors to hospitals, surgeries, pharmacies and care homes across Scotland, including Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Queen Elizabeth, Wishaw General Hospital, Aberdeen Royal, Dundee Psychiatric Unit, the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley.

David Miller, head of the Innovation School with the protective safety masks being made at Kelvinside Academy Innovation School.

David Miller, director of the Innovation School at Kelvinside, has spearheaded the initiative from Glasgow.

He said: “It has been phenomenal to watch SWG3’s GoFundMe campaign go from £0 to £50k in a matter of days.

"It’s a mark of the public’s huge support and affection for NHS staff during this incredibly difficult time.”

It is hoped by naming the project ViseUp and creating a dedicated website, NHS and healthcare workers will have a clearer line to request PPE.

'Collective efforts'

Andrew Fleming-Brown, founder and Director of SWG3, said: “The creation of ViseUp is to bring all of our collective efforts under one roof.

"There is a huge number of people and organisations involved with this particular project, but our mission is a shared one and very simple – to make and deliver visors to frontline staff as quickly as humanly possible.”

Dan Wyatt, Rector of Kelvinside Academy, said, “We felt it was important to scale up production to meet as much of the national demand for visors as possible.

The visors are being delivered to NHS and healthcare staff.

"We are incredibly proud of the collaborative efforts of teachers and lecturers across Scotland and the UK.”

The network of schools and businesses currently involved in ViseUp include: The Innovation School at Kelvinside Academy, SWG3, Badaboom, Clydeside Distillery, Hydro-C, City of Glasgow College, Intelligent Façade Engineering, Glasgow School of Art, NHS Scotland, Morrison Construction Loft Office, Urban Office Architects, Peter Drummond Architects, Larbert High School, and Caldervale High.

• Are you an NHS staff or a Healthcare worker? Please email orders@viseup.com to request urgent PPE for next day delivery. To Donate to the SWG3 PPE Fundraiser, please visit the GoFundMe page.