Lynsey Harris from GRAHAM gave an overview of the employment opportunities 174 Year 4 and Year 5 children, covering disability, neurodiversity and equality and she gave an overview of construction including site safety and made links to the children’s history and PSHE curriculum on Romans.

All the children enjoyed wearing high-viz jackets and carrying out practical construction activities, which allowed them to use different resources to create structures including how to build a structure to hold 500ml of water using only lolly sticks and pegs.

Afterwards the children had the opportunity to design their own hi viz and create their own company name complementing their DT studies covering textiles.   

Miss Emma Anderson, headteacher of Thorpe Primary School said: “I’m delighted that the children had an opportunity to work with GRAHAM Civil Engineering giving them an early insight into career pathways in Science, Technology, Maths and Engineering (STEM).  The children loved working collaboratively with their challenge and were thoroughly engaged.   The addition of a fantastic new train in our Nursery, made from pallets donated by Graham, is an excellent bonus from this community project.  We’d like to thank the Graham team for this positive and fun experience for our pupils!”

The GRAHAM Civil Engineering team are representing the engineering industry and have recently completed work on the A47 Longthorpe Footbridge near to Thorpe School.  Their work in the community is funded by National Highways and they have also recently worked with Ravensthorpe Primary School part of PKAT and Little Miracles.

GRAHAM Office Manager, Lynsey Harris said: “I was delighted to have led the four STEM activity, construction, and safety presentations with Thorpe Primary School, a local school close to our scheme at the A47 Longthorpe Bridge Replacement.  “It was a fantastic opportunity to bring GRAHAM to the forefront of the visit and express the variety of careers available in the construction industry. In addition to this, representing women in construction is invaluable and I hope all the children have taken away something positive from the visits.”

GRAHAM Year out Placement Student, Imogen Brodaty said: “Being invited to Thorpe Primary School and helping present the STEM activity afternoon was thoroughly enjoyable and a pleasure to be involved with. All the children were eager to get involved and asked lots of questions about the construction industry and what it entails. “During the build activity the teams showed great teamworking and building skills through trying to build the tallest/strongest tower. We hope to have made a positive impact on the young minds at Thorpe Primary School and look forward to other engagements in the future.”

GRAHAM Quality Manager, Antony Stevenson said: ““How polite the children were throughout our visit and once the activities started how engaged and focused, they were, it’ was an absolute pleasure to be part of their learning.”

In addition to this exciting work, GRAHAM arranged for some of their left-over pallets to be used to build a steam train for the outdoor nursery.