McCann and Peter James Homes supporting local students as part of national Go4SET initiative

Both ourselves and our house building division Peter James Homes, are supporting a group of students from local school Quarrydale Academy in Sutton-in-Ashfield in their nationally-recognised Go4SET initiative.

Go4SET is a UK-wide scheme with participating schools putting forward a group of six year 8 students to conduct an industry-related visit – with mentoring provided throughout the project by a local industry expert.

The students from Quarrydale Academy will be mentored by our Quality and Lean Manager, Ben Feltham, for ten weeks – after he provided similar expertise to students from Nottingham-based independent school Trent College in 2017.

As a mentor, Ben is required to draw on his own experiences and career insights in order to provide the students with a greater awareness of how science, technology, engineering and maths can be applied in real-life situations.

This year’s project titled Stations for the Future, will require the students to visit a local railway station and identify its working functions whilst proposing specifications for future designs and considering factors such as end use, sustainability and energy consumption.

They will also conduct a site visit with our house building division, Peter James Homes, in Bestwood, Nottinghamshire – looking at factors such as construction and sustainability within the industry.

Speaking about the project and his role as a mentor, Ben said, “It is incredibly inspiring to see so many young people eager to learn more about the industry we work in – especially with the current nationwide focus on driving more young people into construction and civil and electrical engineering in order to meet skills shortages,”

Upon completion of the project, the pupils will produce a detailed report, deliver a 5-minute presentation and build a model of their station design – which will be presented to a panel of industry experts during a special Celebration and Assessment Day on the 25th June, at Derby County’s Pride Park stadium.

Ben continues, “Past cohorts have been hugely successful and I am excited to work alongside this year’s class from Quarrydale Academy in order to see how they perform both throughout the project and on the assessment day in June.”

Mr P Scott, Science teacher at Quarrydale Academy, is grateful to both McCann and Peter James Homes for assisting the group with the project and looks forward to seeing how the group get to grips with the project across the ten weeks.

“Having industry experts working alongside the class from both McCann and Peter James Homes is a brilliant opportunity for both the school and the students and we are very grateful for their support. The knowledge and insights on offer are priceless and I hope the students soak it up ahead of the assessment day because it can only stand them in good stead for success.”

To find out more about our projects, visit www.mccann-ltd.co.uk.