Supporting the development of young people

Our team at Aberthaw in South Wales helped to transform an area of a local primary school in Barry into a construction-themed play area. The idea for the project came from a learning support assistant at the school, who wanted to create something special in the yard for year 2 and year 3 pupils. As a result of the request, we agreed to fund the whole project and helped to build the area over the summer holidays.

The school and colleagues from Aberthaw built and created a large construction roleplay area, with a gravel digging area and a wood chip digging area. We provided wooden sleepers to create the perimeter of the area and bought heavy duty die cast Tonka construction vehicles, Tarmac-branded PPE such as hard hats, tool belts, high vis vests and outdoor jackets. When the school reopened Staurt Escott, plant manager, talked to some of the children about construction and went over some safety issues. The children were keen to learn more and then enjoyed having an opportunity to dress up and have a good exploration.

In County Durham, we helped children at a local school understand more about our processes, plant and people by facilitating a visit to our Thrislington Quarry. A class came to the site as part of their careers week, and the purpose of the trip was to give the students an overview of our safety culture, along with information about our processes and the wide range of roles present within the sector.

It included showcasing how aggregates, concrete and asphalt products are made, how we process/produce them from raw and recycled materials, and how we support our people in their respective functions.

Josh Pilmore, quarry manager, said: “Everyone had a great time and as a reminder of the event, we were fortunate enough to be able to donate a scale model Caterpillar dump truck and some Tarmac goodies so they could remember their day.”

We also supported a school in Solihull in the West Midlands by giving them Tarmac content for website development and helping celebrate the children’s efforts by contributing to a post-project prizegiving ceremony. By liaising with the school’s IT department, we assisted them with a website-building project – where Tarmac was the subject matter – and it came to a celebratory conclusion with a prizegiving assembly.

Paul Batchelor‍, corporate and product marketing manager, said; “We’re now looking at ways we can potentially build on the relationship with this local school through engaging with other relevant subject heads and their careers team. In this way, we can reach as wide a range of pupils as possible, and they can get a better understanding of the types of careers Tarmac can offer when they leave school or further education.”