08/04/09
Cardiff Construction Trainees Save the Play
A Cardiff head teacher says she was absolutely delighted when a group of construction trainees offered to build her pupils a new play house after their old one was damaged in the wind.
The trainees from ACT Skills Academy came to the rescue when they heard that Ysgol Pwll Coch's wooden play house had blown over in the wind and was unusable as a result. The wooden shelter was an integral part of the school's Foundation Phase activities and was used by pupils on a regular basis for activities such as dressing up and role playing.
The Foundation Phase is the Welsh Assembly Government's strategy for teaching and learning for children aged three to seven. It is based on the principle of ‘learning by doing', with children gaining experiences through play and active involvement, rather than traditional learning methods.
The ACT Skills Academy trainees, who are based at a state-of-the-art training centre on Hadfield Road, designed and constructed the new brick play house themselves under the guidance of tutors.
Ysgol Pwll Coch head teacher Anna Roberts said: "We were all devastated when the old play house got damaged because the little ones relied on it as part of their Foundation Phase activities. They'd play all sorts of ‘let's pretend' games in there which really benefited their learning.
"Fortunately ACT has stepped in and built us a brand new play house which is superb and will weather all the elements, I'm sure. We are absolutely blown away with it!"
Steve Briggs, a trainer at ACT Skills Academy, said: "We realised how important this play house was to pupils' education at Ysgol Pwll Coch so we decided to step in and help out. Doing this has benefited us all, because as well as the advantages to the pupils, it has given the trainees from Skills Academy some really valuable hands-on experience."
The Foundation Phase was rolled out to the nursery children at Ysgol Pwll Coch in September 2008.
Jane Hutt, Welsh Assembly Government Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills (DCELLS), said: "I was delighted to hear that ACT construction trainees stepped in to replace the play house at Ysgol Pwll Coch which was used by the nursery school children as part of their Foundation Phase activities. The Foundation Phase has become a highly valued aspect of early years education and I look forward to the next three years when this innovative and groundbreaking curriculum is available to children up to the age of seven."
