Pupils build bridges in Lochaber

Embracing the Olympic spirit, P7 pupils from Banavie, Caol and Upper Achintore Primaries recently took part in the Building Bridges Construction Challenge hosted at Lochaber High School.

The event was a chance for youngster from the three schools, who will all be attending Lochaber High School next year, to mix, work together and compete in a team challenge set up by the Construction Industry Training Board and Highland Council’s Active Schools Programme.  Trialled in the Inverness area last summer, the event is being replicated throughout the Highlands in the coming months.

For the challenge the pupils were split into ten teams, each representing a different country, and each with a senior pupil from Lochaber High School to act as an advisor for the team.

There are 35 new bridges being built in the Olympic park so the first phase of the challenge was to construct a bridge to a given set of specifications.  In each team the youngsters had to assign themselves roles of project manager, civil engineer, buyer, quality surveyor and builders.  The team then had to work out what equipment they needed for their bridge, draw up a sheet of quantities, cost their design, buy their parts and then build their bridge.

The second part of the challenge involved a mini Olympic Games challenge with five events including: long jump, speed bounce, ball throw, shuttle run and obstacle course.

Once the scores were combined the winners were team “USA”:  Leona Falconer and Carly Smith from Caol, Courtney Croll from Banavie and Megan Clarke, Stewart Adams, and Jordon Rodger from Upper Achintore, ably assisted by Grant Matheson.