19 May 2006

Wirksworth school wins award for work with quarry industry

Wirksworth's Anthony Gell School has won a top prize in the Derbyshire 14-19 Partnership Awards thanks to its creative work with the quarrying industry. The school picked up the School/Employer Collaboration award at the ceremony held on 5 May, thanks to the work of around 30 GCSE students and teachers who contributed to a project designed to tackle quarry trespass.

Quarrying is at the heart of Derbyshire's industrial heritage and with so many operational and disused quarries local to Anthony Gell School, the partnership between the Quarry Products Association (QPA) and the students was a great opportunity to tackle the trespass problem in a new way. Masterminded by learning mentor Bridgid Farnan, with support from Tarmac's Dene Quarry nearby, students at the school worked in teams to create new ways of communicating the dangers that face young people entering quarries illegally. They produced a variety of resources, including a magazine, website, film and an imposing sculpture made from reclaimed quarry machinery.

The QPA was so impressed with the commitment from the teachers and students that it worked further with Anthony Gell to develop an advanced teaching programme again looking to combat trespass. Working with a leading learning analyst, the students embarked on a two month programme featuring exercises designed to help them improve the maturity of their thinking, manage risk and peer pressure constructively and to focus their energy on more worthwhile pursuits than the cheap thrills that quarries appear to offer.

The students' work has contributed to a new resource pack for the quarrying industry that will be used across the UK and even into Europe. The resources use the industry's work with Anthony Gell School as a template for quarry managers to adopt to work effectively with their own local schools. As these techniques are adopted where incidences of trespass are high, then lives could be saved.

Speaking on behalf of the Anthony Gell School, learning mentor Brigid Farnan said: "we have gained a huge amount from our work with the quarrying industry over the last eighteen months, and this award is a testament to the effort that we have all put in. The students have really enjoyed using their creativity to help this industry and our community in a unique way. It's thrilling to think that our work might contribute to keeping young people safe in other areas of the country".

For the QPA, Director General Simon van der Byl said: "I'm delighted that the school has been recognised to win an award following their hard work in this project. We face a constant struggle to keep young people safe and out of our operations and we can't put a value on the contribution that the school has made to this campaign. The bottom line is that the work of the students and teachers could help us to save lives where trespass is a serious problem, and this surely is the most meaningful collaboration of industry and schools that one can imagine".

ENDS

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