Team BC at the Skillbuild Yorkshire and Humber regional heats 2016

This year Barnsley College had 9 students competing in the Yorkshire and Humber heats of the Skillbuild competition at Leeds College of Building. Our team was made up of Plasterers Alfie Robson and Charlie Smith, Bricklayers Vicky Thornton, Josh Kelly & Jack Evans, Painter and Decorator Jess Heath and Dry Liners Harrison Pilkington, Jack Syddall and Brad Speed.

SkillBuild is a multi-trade competition run by CITB (the Construction Industry Training Board) that has been running for over 45 years.  The Competition challenges the best construction students and apprentices from colleges all over the UK to test their abilities and skills. The winners from the regional heats will then compete in the national final with the chance to be crowned the overall SkillBuild winner in their chosen trade at the skills show.

Barnsley College brought home a 1st in Painting and Decorating Seniors, a 2nd in Plastering Seniors and a 3rd in Bricklaying Seniors. Three of our Dry Liners from the Horbury group also came 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the Dry Lining Seniors. Well done to Team BC!

 Here are a few photos from the event:

Level 3 Bricklaying student creates a Brickwork Dalek.

Here is model of a Dalek that was created and designed by one of our Level 3 bricklaying students.

Stephen Kent made the model to stretch and challenge himself and he used drinks cans, wire, plant pots and a solar light to decorate the brick work. The model can be seen at the CUBE from the reception area through the large glass windows if you would like to see it in situ.

 Well done Steve!

Johnstone's Young Painter of the Year 2016

Two of our Painting & Decorating students took part in the 2016 Johnstone's Young Painter of the Year competition at Doncaster College on Tuesday 26th April 2016.

Katie and Jess were chosen to represent Barnsley College in the Yorkshire heat and they had 6 hours to set out and paint the wall to strict specifications.

Both students did extremely well and completed the work on time and to a good standard. Jess also managed to achieve first place and has gained a position in the national final in Coventry in November.

Well done to both students!

'A Day in Industry' with Mott Macdonald and Better Barnsley

On Monday 9^th May 2016 a class of Barnsley College students were lucky enough to be invited to attend ‘a day in industry’ organised by Sarah McHale of BMBC and James Kirkham of Mott Macdonald. The event was planned to give the students an insight into the design and construction industry using a live project on the Better Barnsley Development.

 

The new May Day Green Market which is currently being developed in Barnsley Town Centre was the ideal example to demonstrate the work underway whilst also linking to the students current college work.

The day included a visit to Mott MacDonald’s office in Sheffield where we were presented with information from the project manager, structural engineer and designer. We were shown the processes and software using Revit to create the drawings and specifications of the structure that will carry the loading of the new build.

We then visited Billington Steel’s design office where we were shown how they created the junctions between beams, columns and braces with AutoCAD before being sent to the programming department for cutting and drilling.

 

We was given a tour of the fabrication shop in Wombwell. Here we saw where the deliveries are processed, stamping, cutting, drilling, welding and fabrication, jet blasting and painting of the steel before grouping together ready for despatch and transportation to site.

The group then moved to the actual site of the structure itself in Barnsley town centre which is currently managed by De Boer. Here they got to see and fully visualise the design they had seen from the start of the day.

      

The day proved to be an invaluable experience for the 1st year students on the Construction in the Built Environment Course at Barnsley College. To see a structure being designed, fabricated and constructed on site isn't something people are usually fortunate enough to see.  They now look forward to seeing the May Day Green Market fully constructed at the end of the project.  

 

 

Employers needed for Work Experience Placements

The construction department at Barnsley College are always looking for employers that can offer a valuable placement opportunity to our full time students.

 

Work experience has become part of the study programme for all young people attending college full time. It gives them a real insight into what the job they are training to do is like and also prepares them for work in general – timekeeping, presentation, communication, responsibility and hard work.  

We are always looking for new ideas on how to give our students work related experience and find the following to be most beneficial to employers:

-          Two week block - students participate for 2 weeks on dates pre-arranged with the college

-          One day a week – This can help companies who already have apprentices and have to attend college one day a week to complete their technical certificates. You could cover this day with a student on work experience.

-          Apprenticeship trials – if you are thinking of recruiting an apprentice then work experience is a great way to trial students before actually making that commitment to employ them.

If you would like to be involved in supporting young people in construction please contact myself Nicola Barratt on 07824 607 088 or n.barratt@barnsley.ac.uk