Winvic Construction Ltd, a leading main contractor that specialises in the design and delivery of multi-sector construction and civil engineering projects, along with national plant hire company, Flannery, has put on an exciting show in the playground of Footsteps Nursery inspiring a future generation of construction workers.
The Minworth nursery is adjacent to IM Properties’ Peddimore site – where Winvic is delivering the civils and infrastructure work for the 71-hectare employment park – and the visit is part of Winvic and IM Properties’ proactive community engagement programme with local educational settings and schools.
Flannery heard how the nursery children had been fascinated and excited by the construction machinery they could see from the nursery window, so it took the opportunity to get in touch with Winvic and arrange a visit to the playground so the children aged two to four get hands-on. The youngsters eagerly donned hard hats and hi-visibility jackets to join in with a behind-the-scenes show where Flannery’s digger was the highlight of the day.
The children watched in awe throughout a digger demonstration, they were then shown how the machinery works and they were all given the chance to sit in the cab and give the horn a toot. As with all of Winvic’s education initiatives, the visit was designed to teach the young people about site safety and to give them some insight into the construction sector and the wide range of jobs that are available. Therefore, the dangers of diggers and construction sites were explained in a child-friendly way by the Winvic site team. The visit ended with a special construction book, story-time.
Emma Rhymes, Winvic’s Social Value Manager, said: “These visits not only continue to strengthen Winvic’s relationship with the local communities in which we work but they are also a fun and engaging way to teach site safety. It also gives us the opportunity to showcase the wide range of career options available to young people within construction and engineering sectors, and while you may think nursery children are too young to be thinking about a job, we were surprised and delighted at how many inquisitive questions we received about the jobs we do. It was magical to see how excited the children were during the visit and we look forward to meeting more children who live close to the Peddimore site.”
Chris Matthew from Flannery said: “Flannery are pleased to continue to support the local communities that we work within and are really keen to encourage any initiative that helps young people feed their enthusiasm for construction whilst offering them some guidance on the potential dangers that our machinery may pose. The children at Footsteps Nursery were incredibly engaging and curious. From their questions to their willingness to sit in the cab of the machine (and press every possible button – ignition disabled of course!). And as for the welcome the delivery driver received – I’m not sure so many smiling faces and waving arms is all that common on the rest of his rounds!”
Louise Humby, Footstep’s Nursery Manager, said: “Over the past few weeks our children have been watching the developments on the site adjacent to our nursery and have loved watching and learning all about the construction site and their vehicles. We were so excited to invite Flannery and Winvic into our setting and the children all enjoyed the learning opportunities provided by the team and especially loved getting into the cab to press the horn! Following the visit, our children continued to extend their learning in the role play areas inside and were treated to lots of new diggers to play with. Thanks very much to the teams at Winvic and Flannery, and for the little goody bags and toys they left with us!”
