Homewood teacher recognised in Queen's Birthday Honours for PPE work

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News - 15 June

Homewood science teacher Chloe Newman (Mrs Falder) has been awarded a BEM (British Empire Medal) in the Queen's Birthday honours for her role in setting up and running PPE Team Tenterden, which produced thousands of pieces of free PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It all began in March 2020 at the start of the first lockdown, when Chloe converted some pillowcases to drawstring uniform kit bags for nurses at her kitchen table. She then posted a message on social media asking for donations of material to make more. Within hours she had dozens of offers of both material and help and within weeks she was managing a team of over 40 volunteers who, together, made more than 23,000 pieces of non-medical PPE for frontline workers during 2020, both locally and around the country.

As the first wave of the pandemic eased, Chloe additionally organised fundraising activities which provided £1,200 worth of goods for local food banks and donated over £400 worth of toys to the town’s Christmas present appeal.

Congratulations to Chloe on a well-deserved award