Minety and Oaksey School pupils invited to Highways England

Highways England are making efforts to inspire the next generation of infrastructure professionals while also promoting Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects to school pupils after having invited Year Five and Six students from Minety and Oaksey Church of England Primary Schools to their operational base in Avonmouth.

During this visit, the pupils of Minety and Oaksey Church of England Primary Schools saw the Control Room, giving them a chance to see the monitoring screens which keep an eye on roads across all of the South West, and also met Traffic Officers before taking a closer look at their on-road vehicle.

Furthermore, students also got the chance to build Lego Mindstorm autonomous cars while also learning about road engineering through civil engineer Nuria Zea Checa, from Highways England’s engineering consultancy partner WSP.

The Lead Performance Analyst for Highways England, Garry Packer stated: “I am very focused on raising children’s aspirations and confidence so they can see their potential, and these school visits are a great way to do this while also promoting Highways England as a great place to work.

“I really believe that by engaging children from a young age, the next generations will be more interested in a whole range of transport and engineering-related careers, and Highways England hopes to encourage young people from a diverse range of backgrounds to work in the transport sector and particularly in STEM careers.”

The Science Lead at Minety Church of England Primary School, Maria Madeley added: “The children found it very inspiring and as well as giving them ideas about what they might like to do in their future careers it has helped them understand the type of skills employers are looking for.

“When they returned to school, they all said they thought it would be cool to work for Highways England.”

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