Pupils from a primary school in Cardiff were invited to visit the construction site of a local housing development.
Bellway hosted 60 children from Kitchener Primary School at its Rhiwlas at Plasdŵr development in Radyr.
The Year 3 pupils were shown around the site by Bellway’s Development Manager Simon Hughes, who had delivered a presentation at the school the week before to prepare them for their visit.
Donning hard hats and hi-vis jackets, the children took part in a series of interactive lessons on topics such as sustainability, renewability, and safety as they toured the development.
Gemma Hooper-Nash, the teacher who accompanied the children to the site, said: “For many of the children in Year 3 at Kitchener the trip to the Rhiwlas site was their first learning experience away from school in nearly two years, and what an experience it turned out to be.
“The children were enthralled by the telescopic forklift and all its capabilities. It was not something we had planned but Simon and the team took every opportunity to share and discuss everything we witnessed.
“We explored a showhome and met some of the site workers who gave us some insight into the demands of their jobs. The children have been researching how Bellway is approaching smart technology, renewable energy and accessibility to help inspire them to complete their challenge of designing a house of the future back at school.
“I think this will be one of those school trips that the children never forget because it was an authentic real-life experience.”
Simon Hughes, Bellway’s Development Manager, said: “We are always eager to invite pupils from local schools to visit our developments because it is an excellent way to teach them about the importance of site safety.
“Such visits also give us the opportunity to inspire the next generation of site managers, civil engineers, and construction workers. We are therefore grateful to Kitchener Primary School for working with us to organise the trip.
“Sustainability is a hugely important issue, not only for the construction industry but for society as whole. It is therefore something we are keen to educate the younger generation about and we hope the lessons they learned during the visit will stay with them throughout their lives.”
