We have another round of wonderful Wickersley Schools Alumni who are supporting us as a community and people throughout the country as keyworkers on the front line, fighting this pandemic.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our article so far and we look forward to even more next week!
If you missed out on last week’s keyworkers take a look at the article here.
John attended Wickersley School from 2002-2009. He went on to pursue a career in Medicine at the University of Birmingham in 2014, achieving a medical degree in Medicine. Following this, he took to working in various medical specialities in the West Midlands before becoming a registrar in Gastroenterology and General Medicine in East midlands in 2019. He currently helps to diagnose and treat some of the sickest patients in the health environment and works alongside many other dedicated health professionals in the fight against COVID-19.
“I was at Wickersley school from 1996-2001. I am a registered mental health nurse, I work as a senior nurse for a drug and alcohol service in Scunthorpe. My role is to maintain our client’s stability during this difficult time, doing this reduces the risks of them requiring the services of NHS services who are already so overworked.”
“I studied at Wickersley School and Sports College from 1998 until 2003. Since leaving Wickersley I’ve been working in Pharmacy, Co-operative Pharmacy on the Tanyard at Wickersley for a number of years but now I work at Silverwood Pharmacy in Sunnyside. During the coronavirus pandemic, it’s made me realise just how much pharmacies are needed and how much people are proud of us for what we do for them.
We’ve been made a Covid-19 teddy, someone has drawn us an amazing picture, plus others have kept us going with lots of chocolate and biccies. I’m really proud of how far I’ve come and I will continue to work in a pharmacy. It’s been so hard but this is what we do. We’ve got a strict closed-door policy at the moment and we are PPE’d up to the eyeballs “literally” but I love it and will carry on helping people all I can.
I’m the only one at my work who studied at Wickersley but we have a great team and this is for all of the girls at Silverwood Pharmacy. I just want to also say a huge thank you to the community who have been so understanding during this difficult time.”
“After leaving Wickersley, I did a degree in Chemistry at the University of Manchester and then worked in Vietnam for six months teaching English. Since then, I did a brief stint teaching Science at Wickersley and then have been working as a Chemist on Chemical waste sites. I then moved to County Durham, which is where I’ve been volunteering as a special constable alongside my chemist job.
Special constables do exactly the same jobs as regular police officers, but you don’t do as many hours and the work is voluntary. The work can be anything from responding to 999 calls from members of the public, attending road traffic accidents and helping out the neighbourhood police teams with local issues.
More recently, I’ll be starting my new job as a full-time police officer so I’m looking forward to getting involved even more with policing!”
“My name is Eleanor Houghton, I’m 21 years old and I started at the University of Lincoln straight after the sixth form at Wickersley to complete my nurse training. I’m in my final year now of Adult nursing.
I have now completed all my academic work at university and have opted in early to help out with the Cornovirus pandemic. I will be based at Rotherham General Hospital where I have worked for two years whilst completing my training. It is a scary situation for all of us student nurses but I couldn’t feel more ready to go out and help the people who need it most. I’ve always wanted to be a nurse right from starting my schooling at Wickersley. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my three years at university and feel massively proud of myself for everything that is going on at the moment. There is no other career I could ever see myself doing other than nursing.
I’d like to give a mention to the Health and Social Care department and the Science department for helping me throughout my studies and giving me the knowledge to be able to carry out what I could at university! “
“Whilst I was at school, I worked as a Saturday girl at a hair salon. After I left school, I studied hairdressing and barbering and in 2011 I qualified as a hairdresser (NVQ level 3) and barber (NVQ level2). I have over ten years of experience in the industry.
On qualifying, I realised that I wanted to make more of a difference to people’s lives, so I went to Dearne Valley College and did an Access to Nursing Diploma at night school for two years, alongside working at the hair salon and doing voluntary work on my days off. This allowed me to get enough UCAS points to go to university.
I went on to university and studied to become a Social Worker. University wasn’t easy, as I have dyslexia and dyscalculia. None the less, I powered through and with support in 2017, I left the University of a Lincoln with a Bachelor of Science in Social Work with upper-class honours and a diploma in International Social Work, as I put myself forward to study in Germany and Sweden in addition to my degree.
I then moved to Bristol and found a job as a Drugs Counsellor in North Somerset. I have been there for almost three years.
Drugs use is common down south and therefore my role is very busy. I work in a Youth Offending Team providing support to young people aged 10-18 years to keep safe, reduce and stop their drug use, offending behaviours and help support them with mental health difficulties. I help a lot of young people suffering from anxiety, anger issues and suicidal feelings. My role is to help them to visualise their goals and positives in their lives and to help them keep safe.
In my role, I’m an educator, a professional friend and role model. I manage a lot of difficult issues and this I believe, has strengthened my character.
Alongside my role, I have volunteered at festivals working on the welfare teams and I’ve recently signed up to volunteer for the NHS to help out due to COVID-19, in addition to my role as a Drugs worker.
I can remember at school, my Health and Social Care teacher Mrs Ward empowering me to reconsider my career in hairdressing, as she saw potential in me, in the health and social sector. It took a few years, but I found my way back to it and I’ll never look back. The conversation with that teacher will always remain with me.”
“Sam currently works for Mencap DONCASTER who have amazing career opportunities with a fantastic training programme. He is a support worker caring for three young men with learning and health disabilities to live as independently as possible. He helps the guys to shop and socialise under normal times but at the moment it is basically keeping them safe and entertained in a lockdown situation.
Considering he took his A levels to progress towards becoming an English Teacher then changing his mind and thought he would like to enter the police force neither of which were pursued he really has found his true vocation and it perfectly reflects his caring personality
He is still working through these difficult times and 100% shields himself and the guys he cares for.”
Sue Oxley – Sams Mum
“I went to Wickersley from 2002-2007 and then from 2007-2009 for sixth form!
I am a specialist midwife working within the smoking in pregnancy team at Rotherham, I help mums to be to stop smoking. We know that families are much more likely to quit with the right support and medication to treat nicotine addiction.
Now more than ever is the perfect time to quit because not only is it the most important thing you can do for your pregnancy but unfortunately smoking also puts you at a higher risk of worse and longer-lasting symptoms if you were to catch Coronavirus, therefore, we are encouraging mums to quit for their pregnancy and quit for Covid.
Currently, I am very lucky that I am able to offer telephone support and stay safe at home but I am also helping in the hospital when I am needed! The staff on the frontline are incredible and deserve all the recognition they can get!”