Pupils from Ipswich High School are to join forces with NHS doctors and nurses in a new project to document the full drama of fighting Covid-19.

East Anglian Daily Times: Ipswich High School is working with the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) to record NHS workers' stories of fighting Covid-19. Pictured are prep school headteacher Lisa Finch with Ipswich High School headteacher Mark Howe with Year 5 pupils Rose, Abigail, Olivia, Scarlett and Saphron. Picture: CHARLOTTE BONDIpswich High School is working with the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) to record NHS workers' stories of fighting Covid-19. Pictured are prep school headteacher Lisa Finch with Ipswich High School headteacher Mark Howe with Year 5 pupils Rose, Abigail, Olivia, Scarlett and Saphron. Picture: CHARLOTTE BOND (Image: Charlotte Bond)

The Woolverstone-based independent school is working with the East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust (ESNEFT), which runs Ipswich and Colchester hospitals, to interview NHS workers about their time on the frontline during the pandemic.

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The Year 5 and Year 6 pupils will interview the NHS staff about how they tirelessly worked to protect patients during the pandemic, working long shifts to treat sufferers during the spike of coronavirus cases in the spring, as the country went into lockdown.

The nine to 11-year-olds will also interview people who have recovered from the virus to hear first-hand about the effects of the symptoms and how NHS care helped them survive.

East Anglian Daily Times: Ipswich High School is working with the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) to record NHS workers' stories of fighting Covid-19. Pictured are prep school headteacher Lisa Finch with Ipswich High School headteacher Mark Howe with Year 5 pupils Rose, Abigail, Olivia, Scarlett and Saphron. Picture: CHARLOTTE BONDIpswich High School is working with the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) to record NHS workers' stories of fighting Covid-19. Pictured are prep school headteacher Lisa Finch with Ipswich High School headteacher Mark Howe with Year 5 pupils Rose, Abigail, Olivia, Scarlett and Saphron. Picture: CHARLOTTE BOND (Image: Charlotte Bond)

The stories and experiences will then be printed and published in an anthology, with the proceeds going to a local charity dedicated to supporting communities who have been badly affected by this crisis.

Mark Howe, head of Ipswich High School, said: “We are incredibly excited about this project and the opportunity for our pupils in Years 5 and 6 to meet and hear firsthand the experiences of our local frontline NHS professionals.

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“With Covid-19 being in the forefront of everyone’s minds, it has opened their eyes to the incredible work our healthcare professionals do, and we hope, through this project, it will inspire many of our pupils to pursue a career in the healthcare profession.

“This project is part of my belief that, in addition to achieving academic excellence within the classroom, it is the school’s responsibility to focus on engaging and empowering our students to participate and lead in initiatives which will make a positive impact upon the world and demonstrate to them that, even at this age, there are no limits to what they can achieve.”