Shillingstone Primary School visit property development
Property developers Hurst & Hurst Estates welcomed 54 pupils from Shillingstone Primary School to provide a practical and insightful day into the industry.
The pupils visited the Shillingstone Fields development in Okeford Fitzpaine as part of the school’s ‘Careers and Aspirations Week’.
Students enjoyed an afternoon of interactive and educational sessions, designed to provide an insight into some of the varied career options on offer, within the house building sector.
Members of the Hurst and Hurst Estates team were on hand to meet with the children and introduce them to just some of the many roles that are carried out on site.
The pupils were welcomed by the property firm’s managing director Hector Hurst, who introduced them to the development and key members of the site team.
Mr Hurst said: “We all thoroughly enjoyed the visit from Shillingstone Primary School. All of the children were so well behaved and really engaged with the team on site.
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“The housebuilding sector offers such a wide and varied array of career options, with opportunities to suit a real mix of skills and interests.
“I hope the visit provided a little bit of an insight into our world and that some may have gone away, excited about a possible future in housebuilding.”
The pupils then split off into three groups and moved around the development in rotation.
The first group took a tour of the show home and learned about the sales and marketing of a development.
From creating a brand and marketing the homes to working with interior designers to create the show homes, all the way through to selling the homes, the pupils were introduced to the whole process.
The second group met with the development site manager, who gave them an insight into the many different trades working on site and what is involved in the running of a new build development of this size.
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The third group had an opportunity to try their hand at bricklaying.
A team of bricklayers from site, set up a practical demonstration and talked to the pupils about the training and the skills involved in their trade. Some of the pupils then had an opportunity to lay some bricks of their own.
Shillingstone Primary School added: “What a great start for our careers week, the children enjoyed visiting the site, learning about all the different trades. The bricklaying was a highlight and looking around the show homes.
“It was an inspirational visit which we are grateful Hurst and Hurst funded for us.”