It’s a community education at Stockport College
Since lockdown, Stockport College has been supporting its learners and the wider community. Here is a round-up of how staff and students have been working together to create a better future for the borough.
While the safety, education and wellbeing of students have been paramount during the Covid-19 pandemic, Stockport College’s long-standing partnerships within the wider community have helped staff and students to extend the reach of their support during the crisis.
PPE donations
When lockdown began, College Group donated more than 3,000 of personal protective equipment to hospital and care workers, some of which was delivered personally by Higher Education Construction Lecturer Phil Else to Stepping Hill Hospital, where it was vetted before going into Stockport NHS Foundation Trust reserves. Phil said: “We felt the equipment would be of much better use in the NHS, after all, if any one of us gets ill, or if we have friends and family working on the front line, we’ll be thanking our stars the NHS had enough PPE to go around.”
Community College Kitchen
Following concerns about student families in need, Stockport College sprung into action yet again to buy food and toiletries that were made into care parcels by staff and students with the help of Council volunteers, who also made the deliveries. To support of food banks across Greater Manchester and the local area, the College Group set up an FE Foodbank Fundraiser for cash donations through JustGiving.
Mental health messages
While each student receives support from a mentor in addition to personal and course tutors in College, thoughts soon turned to mental health within the wider community. Student Engagement Lead Michelle McLaughlin was instrumental in coordinating the efforts of Health and Social Care students who wrote letters of support to some of the most vulnerable. She also created a wall of wellbeing for the community to share poetry and prose remotely on the College website.
Michelle said: “As well as the residents benefitting from this scheme, students have also been able to exercise their insight and empathy in being a support mechanism for some of our most vulnerable, and gain more of an understanding of the importance of civic responsibility.”
Supportive students
During lockdown, individual students went to great lengths to help out, including registered blind Access to Nursing and Midwifery student Sarah Strutt who found a way of telephoning those in need on behalf of Salford’s Stay in Touch service, run by the city’s Clinical Commissioning Group as part of the Spirit of Salford Partnership. Sarah said: “I was desperate to do what I could to help. At first people thought it was limited what I could do as I am registered blind, however I kept searching until I came across this opportunity.”
Health and Social Care student Esha Mumtaz also used her training and work experience at a local care home to give up her time to volunteer in an Alzheimer’s and Dementia Ward at Trafford Hospital when the pandemic was at its peak. Esha, who has since been recognised for her contribution to the community and College as an ambassador at the College’s annual Student Awards, said “I wanted to help during the pandemic and I couldn’t think of a better way of doing it.”
One Stockport’s Youth Voice
Throughout the crisis, Stockport College campaign body, the Equalities Council, have been in regular contact with Council committees and MPs, including Navendu Mishra, and, before lockdown, hosted a successful Q&A event with politicians, among the likes of alumnus Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner.
Stockport College students were delighted to have been able to form the core of One Stockport’s Youth Engagement Group and look forward to contributing their voices to build a better future for everyone.
