Key Moments – Supporting Our Community

Supporting Our Community

“The pandemic has reminded us of our moral purpose. We are far more fortunate than others and we can have a really positive impact on our local community.”

(Jeremy Walker)

In March 2020, the government announced a national lockdown. Schools were closed, hospitals were overwhelmed, and many of our neighbours experienced feelings of loneliness and despair.

From the start of the lockdown, we were determined to do all we could to support our neighbours and the local community through this difficult time, especially the most vulnerable and those working with them.

Letters of Hope Before school closed at the end of March, our youngest pupils from St Peter’s 2-8 wrote letters and drew pictures for the residents of Fulford Nursing Home. 24 pupils aged 5-6 selected one name each from a list of residents. The children then used paints, crayons, colouring pencils and other materials to create their pictures and letters, which were posted to the Nursing Home. Popular themes included rainbows, hearts and flowers.

Donation of PPE We donated over 6,500 pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) to York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, including four infection protection kits, 48 filtering facepieces, 626 surgical face masks, 150 pieces of eye protection (goggles and glasses), 5,500 latex free gloves, 350 disposable aprons and 25 disposable decorator’s coveralls. The items of PPE were sourced from our on-site medical centre, science, design and technology departments, and donations from pupils.

Facing Up to Coronavirus Mr Paul Cooper, Head of Design and Technology, manufactured visors in his classroom to supplement the 6,500 items of protective equipment donated to York Teaching Hospital. After hearing about the shortage of face masks for health professionals, Mr Cooper realised that his Design and Technology department had the machinery and equipment to manufacture visors for staff working on the front line against coronavirus. With the support of the Head Master, Mr Cooper proceeded with the production of the visors in his workshop at the school. Mr Cooper initially made 5 sample face masks for the approval of York Teaching Hospital Trust and, with help from Mrs Staniforth, produced almost 1,000 face masks overall to meet demand from local care homes and health care professionals.

Rory’s Soup Run Lower Sixth pupil Rory dedicated his spare time to helping people in need in his local community. Rory launched a soup run for the over 60s living in the village of Husthwaite who had been advised to self-isolate due to the coronavirus pandemic. Following the closure of St Peter’s School on Friday 20 March, Rory wasted no time in distributing letters to the older residents of Husthwaite with information about the soup run and his contact details. Rory has continued to deliver nourishing soup to the villagers twice a week throughout the year, providing a vital source of support for his elderly neighbours.

And in other news... The school remained open every day through the Easter holiday, providing childcare for children of critical workers. The children had a great time and our catering team provided a hot meal every day so that parents could carry out their essential work without having to worry. The children also made a series of spectacular rainbows to brighten up the corridor at York Teaching Hospital and bring joy and positivity to the hospital’s patients. One of our boarding houses was used as accommodation for doctors at nearby York Hospital, to help them get the rest they needed to continue with their vital work. Our car park was also available to staff at York Hospital, along with parking throughout the city centre.

Many staff signed up for coordinated volunteering through the NHS and the city council, whilst a ‘Round the World’ challenge organised by our pupils saw the school travel over 10,000km raising money for York Mind and York Foodbank.