The Construction combined schools group, which consist of school pupils that come to Coleg Powys Newtown one day a week to study construction as part of the futures programme, have produced seven picnic benches for Llanidloes High School.

The project was initiated from a governors meeting at Llanidloes High School.   They wanted to put some picnic benches on their school grounds and David Jones, who is a governor but also works at the College, suggested that Coleg Powys might be able to do this.

Llanidloes High School paid for the materials and the group made the picnic benches as part of their BTEC Diploma in Construction course, under the guidance of the Construction lecturers.

The pupils that were involved in the project were from Llanidloes High School, Bro Ddyfi High School and John Beddoes High School. 

Construction technician Dennis Buttery said: “All of the group participated and enjoyed working on the project.  The Llanidloes pupils are really looking forward to seeing their work on show in the school grounds.”

The Powys futures programme enables 14-16 year olds across the county to study additional vocational subjects at Coleg Powys, including Construction, Hair & Beauty, Motor Vehicle and Business.

As part of Engineering Week Wales 2009, Coleg Powys held two special days of events last week for Year 9 Pupils.  One was held in the North of Powys at the Newtown site of Coleg Powys and the other in the South at Maesydderwen High School.

The overall aim of the day was to promote Engineering and make pupils aware of the career opportunities within the Engineering sector, as well as providing them with some hands-on experience of Engineering.

Central to the days was the Engineering Challenge event in which teams were given the task of designing a ‘pig’ to undertake various tasks inside a length of piping.  Amongst other tasks the ‘pig’ had to be able to climb pipes of varying gradients.  They were required to use K’nex kits as part of the challenge.

Engineers commonly use ‘pigs’ to either clean pipes or to check for defects.  Pipes often contain bends and gradients which the ‘pig’ must be able to negotiate.

The North Powys winners were a team from Llanfair Caereinion High School.   Glyn Jones, Head of CDT at the school said: “Thanks again for a very enjoyable day at Coleg Powys.  The pupils gained a lot from the experience.”

The winners at the South Powys event were a team from Maesydderwen High School.

Head of Engineering Kevin Morris said: “This was a very successful event, which enabled pupils to get a taste of Engineering whilst having some fun with the challenge they were set.”