While the Richard Huish College campus remains closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, over the past two months many members of staff, students and the wider community have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to help others in need while maintaining a very high level of remote teaching, learning or working.
As a means of showing appreciation and to celebrate their efforts, the college has named a handful of individuals as #HuishHeroes in recognition of the exceptional hard work and community spirit they have demonstrated in these challenging times.
Away from their online learning, the following students have taken up key worker roles as sales assistants in local shops and supermarkets to help serve the local community: Maddy Chambers, Megan Godfrey, Chloe Floyd and Joel Pethick.
Lexie Holmwood and Aoife Farmer have turned their hands to teaching and have been home-schooling younger siblings, while Robert Morgan has been helping at home with a building project.
Alongside keeping active with college work, A Level students Mizzy Taylor and Ross Leach have both been working at their local Post Offices part time and volunteering in their spare time.
Health and Social Care students have collectively been volunteering in a number of ways within their sector including as care assistants and support workers to help vulnerable people, including Sophie Butcher, Rachel Lambert, Adrian Chiu, Agata Sawicka, Alisha Anthony, Jess Ing, Anya Felix, Leah Ripley, Faye Hawley, Olivia Howell, Jess Ly, Aimee Ogston and Amy Lemon.
Also working in the care sector have been Paige Ritchie and Lydia Read, with Matt Ellis recently starting at Musgrove Park Hospital.
By the nature of apprenticeships, many of the Huish apprentices are continuing working in key roles alongside their study, in some of the most important sectors. Olivia Waterland who is a business administration apprentice remains working on the reception at Frome Hospital, as well as Natasha Potter, health and social care apprentice, who works as a night shift supervisor at Blenheim Lodge Residential Home. Teaching assistant apprentices, Melanie Houghton and Julie Scott, who are based in primary schools, have continued to support staff and pupils still attending the school during the lockdown.
It’s not just the college’s current students who have been nominated as Huish Heroes, the Huish alumni have been active too, many working on the front line in Musgrove Park Hospital, some directly with COVID-19 patients.
2019 leaver Millie Doodson has returned from University, where she was studying medicine, to re-train as a health care assistant in Devon. Meanwhile, fellow medic, Milly Price, who left Huish in 2018, has been working at a centre for adults with significant mental and physical health needs in Taunton.
Among the staff, Jill Burton has been volunteering at St Margaret’s Hospice in Taunton and Andy Edwards has been volunteering in his local shop while also maintaining their teaching commitments. Matt Nolan has become a NHS volunteer responder and Anna Turnbull has become a call handler for her local community support group and joined the relief team at The Halcon Centre as a care assistant for people with physical disabilities.
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