Sacyr and Bryn y Deryn School formalise Valued Partnership
Sacyr Community Benefits Co-ordinator Joanne O’Keefe welcomed Careers Wales Co-ordinator Dominique Deacon, Business Engagement Advisor with Careers Wales Adrian Cole, and Kathryn Cole- Assistant Head of Bryn Y Deryn for a morning discussion ahead of the upcoming Valued Partner scheme.
The scheme would create a beneficial and lasting relationship between the school and the main contractor building the nVCC.
Together they explored the possibility of having Sacyr staff deliver a long-term project within the school. Sacyr Draftsman Jamie Arthur, who had worked with the pupils previously and established a positive rapport, threw his hard hat into the ring, offering up his expertise and professional experience within the school. The project is tentatively formulated lesson plans to involve creating plans and drawings, providing cost estimates, or engaging in a trade-related activities.
So that students can see the positive impact they can create with their own hands, the lessons may include constructing a desired feature for the school or preparing an area on-site to facilitate future construction workshops. Assistant Head Kathryn Cole has suggested an unused Design & Technology room within the school which may be appropriate for development, with a likely helping hand from Sacyr staff to bring the workshop to life.
Jo and the group discussed the possibility of Sacyr staff delivering subject-specific career sessions. One potential focus was mathematics, where Sacyr staff could share how numeracy skills are applied in their roles, such as in trade work, professional positions, quantity surveying, or architecture and facilitate a brief practical math activity related to their field.
Previous efforts have coordinated similar sessions across several schools successfully, being well received, and leading to school staff expressing openness to conducting guided sessions in various subjects.
Alongside this, Sacyr intends to have school visits to site a minimum of once a term, ensuring that a diverse range of departments and roles are represented during each visit, with task set out for the students to reflect the roles. This approach will demonstrate the project's progression over time and reflect the current activities on site. For example, visits could include areas such as the canteen to showcase hospitality and catering operations, horticulture activities during planting phases, and demonstrations or workshops involving drone technology to showcase how site progress footage is taken. Collectively these will hopefully open the eyes of the students to the wide range of careers available within Sacyr, and the wider construction sector.
A mentoring scheme has also been proposed, along with ideas for a work experience programme involving safe working practices in the office, reception, and within the marketing department.
(Left to right; Adrian Cole, Kathryn Cole, Joanne O’Keefe, Dominique Deacon.)
