MP Nicky Wagner Helps Launch Student Playground Resurfacing Project

Children as young as 11 years old are about to start work on fixing their earthquake-damaged playground in a bid to win a national competition.

Christchurch Central MP Nicky Wagner will cheers on the Year 7 and 8 students from Phillipstown School at a special launch event this Friday.

Ms Wagner said: “It’s wonderful to see communities working together on practical projects where young people having access to professional expertise from ‘real life’ engineers.

“Initiatives like these well kindle exciting future career choices for our children. They raise expectations and are a fine example of schools and industry professionals collaborating to inspire future generations.”

The student-led project will build a netball court to replace hard surfaces that had to be removed because of liquefaction. Their work will be entered into the national Transpower Neighbourhood Engineers Awards, a competition with a total prize pool of $11,000 which challenges students to complete a technology or engineering project that tackles a real problem or need in their own community.

Technology teacher Daniel Gorman said: “We were forced to rip up most of our hard court areas due to liquefaction so the kids have really bought into this opportunity to leave a legacy at the school. And it’s going to be a great learning experience.”

Harry Brownlee, from Fletcher Construction, will be working with the school as a Neighbourhood Engineer, mentoring the students as they develop a project brief, learn about ground preparation, test paving options, estimate costs and investigate fundraising options.

This industry to school partnership was put together by Futureintech Facilitator Catherine Smith, who said: “This is a great example of a project where there is a real world problem and a real need for an engineering solution. And it’s an opportunity for the students to find out what being an engineer is all about.”

ENDS

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