A FUTURISTIC vision of a thriving town, full of innovation, good jobs and providing an environment designed to boost mental wellbeing, has been painted by school children.
Redundant offices given new purpose, traffic-reducing transport systems, including cable car gondolas and a heritage train, are among a host of ideas generated by Year 7-10 pupils from Darlington.
Students offered bright futures for a variety of landmark buildings whilst coming up with plans to bring in investment, retain, develop and attract a skilled workforce, boost tourism through heritage and events and protect the environment with a range of green ideas.
Teams from eight secondary schools took part in the second round of the Jacobs Engineering Group Big Big Project – STEAM: Ahead, which was hosted by Darlington College.
The competition is part of The Enrichment Partnerships Pilot launched last year and run by Bishop Hogarth Catholic Education Trust, funded by the Department of Education and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
The initiative, which is looking at creating a co-ordinated approach to enrichment opportunities in Darlington, is being overseen by National Citizens Service and the Duke of Edinburgh scheme.
Initiated by Jacobs Engineering Group and in partnership with Darlington College and Darlington Borough Council, eight schools have been taking part including Carmel College, Haughton Academy, Polam Hall School, St Aiden's C of E Academy, Hurworth Academy, Hummersknott Academy, Longfield Academy and Wyvern Academy.
Students have been working with business mentors including volunteers from Carver Group, Bannatyne Group, Vurv Group, Zenith Training, AAA Caring Caretakers, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, Clive Owen accountants, Becky Voss MUA and Uptax.
They were charged with examining the council’s three areas for long term success and asked to research their own innovations to determine what they thought Darlington should look like by 2040 when the pupils will be of working age.
In the latest round they were asked to find a case study of a thriving town centre elsewhere in the country, highlight its key selling points and consider whether they could be transposed on Darlington.
Students were also asked to seek feedback from residents of all ages on what was missing, what was good and what could be improved, as they developed the growth strategies identified in the first round.
Teams spent the day in Darlington College looking at future clean energy generation, making electric model cars and designing marketing material showing Darlington as a ‘hidden gem to the world’, before presenting their findings Dragon’s Den’ style to a panel of judges.
The panel comprised BHCET’s enrichment partnership manager Sarah McGee, Darlington College’s head of marketing and engagement Claire Hankey, Duke of Edinburgh Scheme’s North East enrichment partnerships officer Lori Bennett and Darlington Borough Council transport planning officer Tom Murray.
Students were also asked to discuss green energy and the importance of industrial heritage to the area.
Five schools secured a place in the final – Carmel, Haughton, Hummersknott, Longfield and St Aidan’s – which will be held on March 25, at 6.30pm, at Darlington’s Dolphin Centre.
Sarah said: “All the students were brilliant and have shown such in-depth knowledge of the town. The presentations were polished and it was clear to see just how much effort they had put into them.”
Claire added: “As panellists we learned a great deal about the borough listening to the presentations and the students had some amazing ideas on how to improve all aspects of life in Darlington. The event left us feeling very optimistic that with this generation the borough will be in safe hands.”
Haughton Academy’s lead for extra curricular Megan Alexander-Weir said: “This has been a really exciting opportunity for our pupils and, while they were nervous, they felt so rewarded to have come through it. They thoroughly enjoyed presenting their ideas and taking part in the college activities.”
