Education and employment 2019
“The STEM role enables me to go out and meet young people with a view to promoting these subjects as good routes into successful careers in many different industries including construction. I would also encourage other colleagues to become STEM ambassadors. Building Tarmac’s connections with local educational establishments and working with the students is very rewarding.”
Josie Shereston, Tunstead environmental coordinator, Cement and Lime
Supporting education and the development of young people and increasing employment opportunities is one of the ways our volunteering helps provide a net positive contribution to our local communities. Here are just a few examples of the way Tarmac employees have been supporting education and employment in their local communities in 2019.
Finance collaboration with Coventry university
Tarmac welcomed a group of business analytics students from Coventry University’s Strategy and Leadership faculty for a day of learning and collaboration. The students joined us for a morning to understand how Tarmac operates, how we are looking at data analytics and process optimisation and our plans for future developments in this area. We also presented our latest work around developing future leaders and the opportunities available through our youth strategy.
The afternoon involved a site visit to Alrewas, showing students the operational side of the business. They also had the chance to learn how we are working in partnership to deliver some of the UK’s largest infrastructure projects.
Tunstead helps Buxton children with better bike skills
Pupils at Buxton Junior School have been improving their cycling skills through a Bikeability course, partly funded by Tunstead Quarry, designed to teach them cycle maintenance, safety and road skills. Peter Butterworth, general manager, Stone and Powders, said: “The importance of getting exercise and being outdoors is often in the news and cycling is a great way to do both. We were pleased to be able to ensure that these Buxton school children received this important training – it will help them be more aware of how to keep safe and enjoy cycling.”
Buxton Junior School headteacher Ros Carter added: “It is really important that children have the right skills to cycle safely and confidently, especially in this area where the traffic can be very busy. We were delighted that with Tarmac’s support we were able to offer the training to all those children who wanted it.”
From rock to road at Swinden and Cross Green
Cross Green Asphalt and Swinden Quarry have been showing a group of trainee engineers and apprentice technicians from Leeds City Council how we go from rock to road. On the day, Swinden’s quarry manager Tim Palmer and area operations manager Richard Scott gave an overview of the history of Swinden Quarry followed by a tour of the site. The trainees and apprentices saw how aggregate is extracted, processed and transported to plants, such as Cross Green, using our fantastic rail links.
For the second part of the tour the group heard a presentation from Aidan Ranftler, unit manager, Cross Green, Steve Carter, area operations manager, Yorkshire, and Anthony Smith, technical product support manager, which explained how the plant works and our available materials. This was followed with a tour of the asphalt plant and laboratory.
STEM Success
Colleagues across Tarmac have been taking part in STEM activities in schools local to our sites. Members of the contracting team in Yorkshire have been talking safety and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) with a local school. Four members of the team visited Elloughton Primary School to talk about construction careers, our vehicles and machinery and road safety, as part of our surfacing works in the village and East Riding of Yorkshire contract.
Allan Moffet, technical manager – Materials, and Alison Long, area HR manager – Materials, visited The Academy at Shotton Hall in County Durham’s STEM club; where they taught students found out lots of interesting facts about how rock is formed and how it is used under football pitches. They also got to see the type of machines we use for testing road safety. Later that week, the STEM club members visited Thirslington Quarry where the group learnt about the quarry, its operations and highlighted the importance of science, technology, engineering and math’s in the day-to-day management of a quarry.
Josie Shereston, Tunstead environmental coordinator, Cement and Lime, is celebrating clocking up 100 hours of work as a Science Technology Engineering and Math's (STEM) ambassador. Josie received a certificate from the Derbyshire Education Business Partnership, congratulating her on contributing 100 hours of time towards STEM work in schools and colleges. Since she qualified as a STEM ambassador in 2017, Josie’s work has seen her take part in a variety of initiatives from poster design competitions in primary school, through to running practical workshops in secondary schools, and giving presentations in colleges.
Richard Walters, lead teacher for STEM pathways, who worked with Josie on a project she ran with Toot Hill School and College near Barnstone, said: “Many thanks go to Josie who is overwhelmingly supportive in our ongoing initiatives to energise students to follow STEM pathways.”