Friday 17 October 2008

Building Challenge 2008

The construction challenge was organised by First Partnership, an organisation aimed at linking industry and education. The challenge, involving seven other schools, was aimed at able year 6 children to raise awareness of the skills needed for careers within the construction industry.




















"Reading all the instructions was key to success."






Success in the challenge involved use of problem solving, communication and decision making skills. The task involved the building of a replica building seen, only very briefly, by two members of the team. Communication skills came to the fore as the project manager and site engineer weren’t allowed to draw what they had seen; the pressure to be accurate for the sake of the rest of the team was huge. Newport’s all girl team produced a cost effective building model which didn’t incur any time over run penalties. (A goal not achieved by many in the building industry!).























The Newport team worked very hard with great co-operation between the different roles which included project manager (Jodie), general foreman (Kim), builder (Ayesha), quantity surveyor (Georgia), planner (Rebecca) and site engineer (Louisa). Although the team narrowly lost out to Hawley Primary school, their listening and cooperation skills were highly commended by the judges.