SD Solutions with Vinney Green
Earlier this month, we organised an employer led engineering workshop with Vinney Green Secure Children’s Home and SD Solutions, an engineering consultancy organisation based in Bristol. This work in provisions out of Bristol has been funded through the Careers and Enterprise Company & The West of England Combined Authority.
The session was designed to help the learners understand more about the world of engineering and provide a taster for the types of roles that the young people at Vinney Green could pursue in the future. The session itself was led by Luke who is Business Developer and Mechanical Engineer at SD Solutions. He initially took learners through his role, what his day to day looks like and explained more about the projects he’s worked on around the UK. The young people in the session were particularly interested to hear about Luke’s career pathway, which included some time living and working in America!
The main activity saw learners work on a real-life project. Luke presented learners with a blueprint of a four-storey care home in the UK and tasked them with drawing where they think would be the best places to fit water pipes and the electrics for the building would be. Alongside identifying the logistics, learners also had to consider keeping the building safe and habitable for residents. The young people got stuck in straight away and shared that they were interested in careers in plumbing and construction, so this task was perfect for developing the skillsets they would need. Both learners demonstrated excellent communication and leadership skills as they were able to make decisions independently. One learner particularly enjoyed the session, ‘it was challenging and fun and I’d definitely like to learn more about this job’.
We had a brilliant time with SD Solutions. Thank you to Luke for leading such an engaging workshop and for providing the young people with an insight into engineering-based careers. Finally, a big thank you and well done to the students at Vinney Green who were so enthusiastic throughout the session!