Concrete in the Classroom
Tarmac help cement pupils’ knowledge of concrete with school visit to Dunbar cement plant
TARMAC’s Dunbar cement plant has hosted a visit by 22 pupils from The Royal High School in Edinburgh to round off the school’s five 50-minute lesson project called ‘Concrete in the Classroom’.
As part of the project, pupils from The Royal High School have learned about the history of concrete, how the material is produced, health and safety in the workplace, how to mix and make the product, and where the products are used. Finally, they got to see how one of the key components of concrete is made at Dunbar cement plant.
Concrete in the Classroom is a ‘Curriculum for Excellence’ resource run by Concrete Scotland. It takes pupils through five construction-related lessons and culminates in a site visit to an operational concrete or cement plant.
The initiative was launched to help address the need for more vocational learning and better links between education and industry to help highlight career opportunities.
Dunbar cement plant manager Oliver Curtin said: ‘It was a pleasure to host this group of students here at the only cement plant in Scotland. They have clearly learned a lot about cement and concrete through their five lessons and it was refreshing to see their enthusiasm for the industry.
‘We are proactively look for ways to work with educational establishments to demonstrate the range of career options in the world of construction materials, so it was great to be part of ‘Concrete in the Classroom’.’
Dale Lyon, director of Concrete Scotland, said: ‘We were delighted that Tarmac and Dunbar cement works were able to host one of our school visits as the culmination of the Concrete in the Classroom Programme. We were able to contextualize the learning into the world of work through the site visit.’
Mr Lyon added: ‘CITB has supported the development of the programme over the last few years through an extended pilot and currently in developing an SQA qualification that we hope to be available for schools at the start of the 2017/18 academic year.’
