When local education organisation Crewe Partnership needed help providing safeguarding materials for over 400 children at two summer 2012 events in Crewe, SG World was on hand to help. As a business with strong ties to the Crewe area, SG World had a solution which would not only provide Crewe Partnership with the means to fulfil their safeguarding needs, but also involved secondary school students in a hands-on business experience by providing them with a project to manage from conception through to delivery.
SG World invited four students, Rachel Armstrong, Rebecca Latham, Georgina Costello and April Williams, from local King’s Grove High School to participate in the project with their teachers. The students were tasked to design safeguarding materials for two events. They created wristbands for the “Olympicnic” outdoor and water safety day in Queen’s Park which were used by over 100 Key Stage 1 pupils and teachers.
The wristbands were printed using a thermal printer which does non-smearing, waterproof image transfers in black and white. The wristbands are commonly used for school trips, and contain information such as trip or emergency contact number, allergy information, and the school or group the child is part of. As a safeguarding measure, children’s names are generally omitted from the wristbands. The King’s Grove students opted for a design which incorporated the name of the event, logos from King’s Grove, SG World and Crewe Partnership, names for each of the eight schools which attended and an emergency contact number.
Students also designed staff ID cards at “OnTrack”, a rail safety day for Year 5s at the Crewe Heritage Centre. Along with supplying the cards, SG World and Crewe Partnership conceived a game for the pupils to play during the day, which was designed to teach them about awareness of strangers and correct IDs. The King’s Grove student created three designs, only one of which was the valid and correct badging for staff members.
The SG World ID card bureau creates customised and standard ID cards for a range of commercial and public sector customers, assisting them with both their Crewe Partnership provided SG World with names of the adult volunteers for OnTrack enabling SG World to provide customised ID cards for volunteers on site.
Several adults volunteering at the event wore the counterfeit badges and pupils were tasked with checking the IDs of all of the participants, which included staff members from organisations such as British Transport Police, Tesco and Virgin Rail, to ensure they were valid. The King’s Grove students were on-hand to facilitate the event, by passing out the cards they had designed, ensuring that the activities moved smoothly and providing support during a visit to the event by the Mayor of Cheshire East. OnTrack was a resounding success for Crewe Partnership, providing a playful learning experience for over 340 ten-year-olds from around the Crewe area.
Ben Wye, Integrated Services Coordinator for Crewe Partnership, the group of local schools hosting the events, said: “This was a great example of local business and schools working to help primary school children and staff, whilst gaining valuable educational opportunities in the process. SG World and the students from King’s Grove High School made a huge contribution to the two June events that Crewe Partnership arranged for primary schools in the area.”
The King’s Grove students were able to participate in this unique opportunity as part of the King’s Grove High School’s Business Ambassador programme. Made up of pupils who are studying business, all of the students were put forward by either their teachers, or volunteered based on an interest in pursuing the subject further.
Steve Floodgate, SG World Communications Director, said: “As a leading supplier of safeguarding and pupil monitoring solutions, we felt this was a natural partnership to make and we were keen to provide local students with a fresh and exciting educational experience. Handling a real project, with a real outcome, from start to finish is a valuable experience for anyone starting out in the workforce, so we’re delighted to expand this opportunity for learning to these four highly motivated students.”
As part of the project, the four students were invited for a visit and tour of SG World headquarters in April 2012 to learn more about the production and receive a briefing from Ben Wye of Crewe Partnership. The students were shown every aspect of SG World’s operations as part of their project. They viewed the whole of the business, from Communications and Customer Service to actual production and manufacturing with a walk-round of the factory floor and ID departments the chance to see some of SG World’s products hot off the presses.
Student Georgina Costello said: “I was interested in working on this project with SG World because they’re a successful, local business and being able to see how they work will help me understand more about the business world.”