Laing O’Rourke inspires engineers in the making at Little Milton Primary School
Laing O’Rourke and Primary Engineer have joined forces for the second year running to ignite pupil’s passion for engineering in Oxford classrooms with the ‘Primary Engineer Construction Programme‘.
Pupils get to build and test their own towers and trucks, while interacting with real-life engineers who visit their classrooms. This hands-on approach allows pupils to see the practical applications of engineering concepts and discover the exciting career possibilities in this field.
The magic of the programme comes from schools interacting with real engineers like Abi Brierley, a Graduate Construction Manager from Laing O’Rourke whose visit to Little Milton Primary School in March inspired all of the pupils. She not only shared her career journey but also actively helped pupils with their towers, from circuits to decorations.
Pupils cannot aspire to something they didn’t know existed, they need role models which is why bringing engineering and technology professionals into classrooms to work alongside teachers and pupils is a major part of what we do. Mrs. Graham, a teacher at Little Milton, says her pupils were surprised to see a young woman like Abi working in the Construction industry instead of the stereotypical older man. This encounter sparked curiosity and questions about the kind of projects she had worked on, with one pupil even expressing a desire to follow in Abi’s footsteps.
“Outreach with young people is a cause that is close to my heart and as someone from Burnley and with Primary Engineer being a Burnley-based company, it is also a cause that is very close to home,” said Abi. “I have worked with schools in other capacities and, when I was made aware that Laing O’Rourke had partnered with Primary Engineer, I was really excited to get involved.”
Mrs. Graham highlighted the cross-curricular nature of the programme, “I really like how this programme is cross-curricular. We linked it to our Design and Technology, Science, Computing and Art plus the physical kit made it so easy. In Computing, we had been learning about Microbits. Theo and Phillip had an idea to adapt their construction towers further with the skills they had learnt. They coded the Microbit to spell pizza and make a tune and fitted the tower with an alarm system. The programme connects learning in the classroom with the real world and develops a foundation of skills for later on in life. Bringing an engineering professional into our classrooms was key to its success.” she commented.
The cohort of schools recently attended a joint school event on 4th June at South Oxford Community Centre to celebrate their achievements at the end of the programme.
When asked about her highlight of the day Abi said “The highlight of the day for me was getting to spend time with some budding engineers. They had some really creative ideas ranging from dragon’s breathing fire to a basketball hoop (complete with basketball). It was really refreshing to see so much enthusiasm and excitement!”
We saw a variety of unique and creative Towers and Trucks, including Theo and Phillip’s Pizza Palace and Chloe’s light of the night from Little Milton Primary School. After chatting with the Laing O’Rourke engineers and testing their builds, it sparked more creative-problem solving in the pupils as they had more ideas about what they would do to their towers to improve it.
The impact on the pupils has been noticed in the classroom, with Mrs. Graham saying how amazing it was to see how engaged all of kids were. “There was a real buzz in the classroom during this project and it captivated everyone’s attention. All of our pupils have grown in skills and confidence and have been inspired about the world of engineering.”
We help facilitate connections between engineers and schools and quite often our progammes fosters long-lasting connections. Abi has expressed an interest in returning to the school to help with any future STEM activities and we can’t wait to see what they do.
Abi’s final advice to any future engineers in the making is to “do what excites and interests you, the things you do best at are the things you have fun doing! See as much and do as much as possible, construction is the world around you and getting to be a part of that is something I think is really fun!”.
Want to follow in Abi’s footsteps? It couldn’t be easier! Our Engineer Relationship Manager, Roxanne, communicates with engineering and technology professionals to prep them fully on what to expect and their role when they get into the classroom. Plus, there are so many flexible engineer engagement opportunities! Find out more about volunteering here.