SATRO recognises Willmott Dixon’s work to inspire young Surrey people

Weeks after getting a Royal nod for its community work, the team at Willmott Dixon’s Cobham office has now been recognised by Surrey social enterprise, SATRO, for its continued commitment to inspire young people across the county.

April saw Willmott Dixon win a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the category of sustainable development with judges praising the £1 million of investment in local communities, which included the work with SATRO.

 

Now the Cobham office have received praise from SATRO after 37 staff clocked up an impressive 400 hours of support to SATRO’s programme over the past two years, reaching over 7500 young people to help inspire and enthuse them about the world of work.

Willmott Dixon’s work with the programme ranges from attendance at events to mentoring young people about employment opportunities within the construction industry.

SATRO is an educational charity working across schools and colleges in Surrey and the borders. It aims to inspire and enthuse young people aged 5-19 about the world of work through a volunteer programme which involves over 850 volunteers.

Gordon Bell is one of the Willmott Dixon volunteers who has been working with the programme this year and said: “Young people are vital in the future of the local economy and working with SATRO is one way in which we can inspire them.

“The work that Willmott Dixon undertakes out of the Cobham office involves construction across the south east of England however the range of roles that our work involves are wide and varied. All are vital in the smooth running of the business. Giving volunteer support to SATRO enables us to not only inspire young people but also allow us to capture the minds of individuals so that we can hopefully attract future talent into the industry.”

Dr Beccy Bowden, CEO of SATRO said: “I am thrilled that thanks to the fantastic support of companies like Willmott Dixon we are still very much alive and well and working to inspire young people about their future careers. Willmott Dixon is a great company to partner with – their work really resonates in particular with our fleet of mobile classrooms which is training young people in construction skills and giving future career opportunities to many young people at a time when they really need help to get a step up.”

 

Willmott Dixon Construction delivers award-winning projects across the education, health, leisure, workplace and retail sectors. The company works on public and private sector developments on behalf of national Government frameworks, local authorities and private organisations.

Willmott Dixon Group is one of the UK’s largest privately-owned construction, regeneration and support services companies.

With 160 years of experience, the company provides services within the built environment to Government, registered social landlords, local authorities and private sector clients throughout the UK.

PUPILS CAPTIVATED WITH LEGO WORKSHOP @ ST PETERS

On Wednesday 21^st May, 120 pupils from St Peter’s Primary School in Farnham received our newly introduced, innovative programme that is the LEGOWeDo workshop. Pupils worked in pairs to design, engineer and programme robots using LEGO bricks, a computer, a motor and other special elements. Pupils learnt to incorporate tilt and motion sensors into their designs. They then tested their initial designs and programming; after reflecting on what did or did not work, the pupils learnt to consult with peers, adapt their programming, and adjust their designs. One pupil said,

 “It makes me wonder what other things I haven’t learnt yet.”

another commented,

 “It has helped me to find a fun way of understanding how science works. I really liked it!” 

SATRO BRING THE BUSINESS TO NEW MONUMENT

 30 Year 6 children from New Monument Primary School in Woking took part in a SATRO Junior Business Game on Wednesday 21st May.  

The basic premise of the game is that the children are stationery companies for the day, manufacturing bookmarks, which they have to then sell to a discerning panel of buyers.  They have to choose roles, decide on a company name and logo, manage their finances and negotiate orders for their companies whilst trying to learn to work with new people and meet various deadlines.  Each team has a business person acting as a facilitator to guide, support and encourage them throughout the day.

Judging from the pupil's feedback, they had a superb day which definitely opened their eyes to the world of business.  Here are a couple of comments about what they learned...

"I learnt that working in a business is extremely hard and you have to deal with a lot of money. We should appreciate what we have been given in this world."

"I learnt how to be a quality assurance manager and how to work really well in a team."

DANESFIELD MANOR TAKE A TURN IN GLOBAL TRADING

30 Year 5 & 6 pupils from The Danesfield Manor School had a harsh lesson on 19^th May, quickly realising that global trading is deeply unfair!

The children were broken down into 6 groups of three different countries representing rich/emerging & poor countries of the world and tried to generate wealth for their ‘countries’ by making paper shapes which had a currency they could then bank. The poor countries had lots of raw materials (paper) but no technology and the rich countries had all the technology but limited raw materials. The rich countries quickly began manufacturing but were unwilling to trade their technology for the raw materials they needed thereby ensuring the poor countries remained poor. 

The workshop evoked some wonderful thinking and comments from the pupils...

"I learnt that not all countries in the world are as fortunate as us - they have the resources but not the technology.” 

and,

"I learned how chocolate was made! More importantly I found out how unfair life is for some and that one in seven people go to bed hungry, it's shocking. It makes me want to god MAD but unfortunately I am just one small boy in a big world. But it has made me understand how cruel the world is for some." 

A debrief following the game highlighted the plight of the cocoa farmers in Ghana and the fact that out of a £1 bar of chocolate, the farmers only receive 7p, with the rest going to the two Governments in tax, the manufacturers, and the retailers which the children thought was deeply unfair. 

A powerful and thought provoking game for all concerned. 

BLOSSOMING SCIENTISTS AT BUCKLAND PRIMARY

Last week, Buckland Primary School in Staines saw our faithful Associate, Peter and a band of volunteers deliver two of our exciting Discovery Science Workshops. A total of 120 pupils took part. Year 2's learnt about gravity and forces in a fun and practical way, utilising the making of parachutes and dropping eggs! Meanwhile, the pupils in Year 6 became Circuit Detectives for the day. This workshop requires the children to inspect various circuits and find the faults. They consolidated new knowledge in a fun way whilst building on team-working skills. One pupil said, 

“It has made me feel more confident about science and how circuits work.”

another commented, 

“It made circuits much more fun. I thought it was going to be boring but I actually really enjoyed it!”

MAKING AN IMPRESSION IN OAKFIELD

Another Rocks and Soils workshop was held this week in Oakfield School, Leatherhead.  Led by SATRO’s professional geologist, participants had a hands-on opportunity to investigate rock specimens and even had an opportunity to make impressions of some fossils. Simple experiments were conducted to identify different mineral samples and an introduction to soils enabled the pupils to have an understanding of their geological environment. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed the workshop. This workshop was kindly sponsored by the GeoScience Department at ExxonMobil.

TENACIOUS TEACHING AT TILLINGBOURNE JUNIOR

Today, SATRO's devoted associate, Peter, attended Tillingbourne Junior School in Chilworth. He was joined by 3 of our ever faithful volunteers. At the school, they were met by 120 year 4 & 5 pupils who participated in two of our Discovery Science Workshops. Year 4 faced our K'Nex Structures Challenge in which they had to build and create towers using K’nex and their engineering knowledge in a time limit of 50 minutes. Meanwhile, Year 5 pulled out their deerstalker hats when they became Circuit Detectives for the day. This workshop requires the children to inspect various circuits and find the faults. They consolidated new knowledge in a fun way whilst building on team-working skills. The two workshops, designed to inspire young people about the fun of science and encourage them to continue their science-related studies into secondary school and beyond, were well received by both pupils and teachers.