Our team of mentors and assessors in our Southern Region have recently supported the EDT Industrial Cadets Bronze Award, working with two teams of Year 9 students at Bishop’s Hatfield Girls School. Industrial Cadets is a widely recognised, accredited awards scheme increasing diversity and inspiring young people through industry-based experiences to become part of the workforce of the future. The 12-week STEM programme saw the teams take part in projects titled ‘Transforming Tomorrow’s Tech’ and ‘My School is an Island’, with Barhale’s Harriclea Bello (Customer and Stakeholder Lead), Jacques Deneys (Contracts Manager), Josh Maney (EHS Advisor) and Samantha Barratt (Business Development & Communications Director), guiding the teams throughout their activities.

On 12th June, Nick Piggott (Bid Manager) and Shane Gorman (Water Director) took part in the assessment day for the programme, joining other industry representatives to virtually judge a number of the student teams who took part in order to determine the winners of the award categories and this week the whole Barhale team joined the graduation/celebration event held in Watford Grammar School for Boys. They took part in a Q&A panel discussion where the students could ask them questions about their experience and roles in the industry. Samantha also presented the Best Teamwork Award.

It was fantastic to see both our teams receive a runners up as well as Team 1 being the overall winners for the Project of the Year Award.

It’s been a great initiative to get involved in and the team have been really impressed by the students and their achievements.