Cheesmur Building Contractors Trip - Year 8

To finish off this academic year, we felt we had one more careers trip in us! We headed off to Cheesmur Building Contractors for another fantastic morning of learning about jobs in the construction industry.  

The group were engaged throughout and asked some very insightful questions of our host, Dan Hayman, Estimator for Cheesmur and Chailey School's very own Enterprise Adviser.  The definition of an Enterprise Advisor is below and believe me, Dan goes above and beyond expectations in his role for Chailey School.

After an initial session exploring the different roles within the construction industry and talking about the process from design through to build and completion the group then set about devouring the doughnuts and snacks as a refuel before taking on their big building project.

The group was split into two and team names and job roles appointed. The teams decided to build an eco-house and an airport. Rolling newspapers as their ‘funds’ proved to be more of a challenge than expected! 

Finds created, the architects were then tasked with listening to their team and drawing exactly what was asked. This was hard for both our architects who were equally as full of ideas as their ‘colleagues’ and had to keep their own ideas and opinions to themselves.

The twist was that the teams then swooped designs and had to build each others projects using the 'funding' made earlier.

The building task was great fun, and the end results were impressive, both teams following closely the drawings that were presented.

There was some lively discussion after the builds were completed with the teams being equally impressed and horrified at what has been produced from their brief.

After the carnage had been cleared away we had a good discussion about skills that had been used, the different roles the teams had adopted and how this activity is very similar to what happens in real life in the construction industry.

It was a great morning with huge engagement from the group.  We had a great last question from Albie who wanted to know which trade got paid the most? Dan was able tell everyone that though it used to be the electricians and plumbers, it's now welders as this is not a hugely popular role, but is very skilled so is in demand! I wonder if we have any future welders among the group.

Well done Year 8, this was such a fun and informative trip and one I hope you will remember and refer back to when thinking about your options choices next academic year.

(Enterprise Adviser is part of a national and local network who: Support the school or college's senior leadership team to develop and evaluate their careers plan. Provide a valuable employer's perspective on how a school or college can embed labour market information and opportunities into careers services).