New machinery store to deliver enhanced teaching experience for Castle Tower students
Castle Tower School in Ballymena has played a key role in meaningful developing career opportunities for young people with learning difficulties.
This unique centre-of-excellence continues to break new ground in this regard, particularly in forging strong relationships between students and businesses working with the agri,
horticulture, environmental and grounds’ care sectors.
Making this happen is the commitment of staff at Castle Tower to help secure high quality LANTRA qualifications for students who want to work in these industries.
It’s a commitment that sees the young people involved securing the class-based training they need at the school’s Ballymena campus, all of which is backed up by visits to the Ballycastle farm of their teacher: Ciaran McCaughan. His beef enterprise provides the scope for the students to get a real grasp of working in a practical, workplace setting.
Ciaran works closely with classrooms assistants Shireen Davidson and Norman Manson in delivering the range of accredited LANTRA coursesthat are available through Castle Tower. And it really is a case of everyone working together in order to provide the best possible outcome for the students.
Ciaran explained: “It’s important that the students leave school with real qualifications,” said Ciaran. “In turn, this will allow then to secure sustainable job opportunities within the farming industry as they look to the future."
But, as with all good ideas, it can take a while to get them off the ground.
“We had a number of hurdles to overcome,” Ciaran further explained. “The school hierarchy were fully supportive and on board with the initiative however, getting insurance cover and finding an approved farm location to allow us to teach the various coursesheld us back initially.”
The solution to all these problems came in the shape of Ciaran’s home farm on the outskirts of Ballycastle.
“Obviously I know the layout of the farm inside out,” he confirmed. “It then became a job of laying out the yard in full compliance with the Lantra requirements and then getting the required insurance cover."
The students get up to the McCaughan farm twice weekly. The visits allow them to receive the full training input they require across a wide range of skill-based activities. These include tractor driving, animal handling, ATV sit inside, calf to beef management and leaf blowing.
Instilling an awareness of their own safety and the safety of others are key drivers for all the courses taken by the Castle Tower student group.
“Health and safety are at the core of everything that we teach,” Ciaran explained.
“If the children learn anything at the farm it’s about the absolute need to think safe at all times.”
Continuing investment on the farm has allowed Ciaran to improve the quality of the learning experience made available. The latest initiative in this vein was the construction of a new machinery store.
Ciaran takes up the story. “The new building is, essentially a four bay shed with a 14 feet wide entrance. It has a solid floor.
“From the outset, it was decided to use pre-stressed wall panels. It was the quickest and most effective option.
“The panels could be placed between the RSJs without the need for foundations. All the panels can be put in place very quickly.
“In addition there was no need to delay the fitting out of the building as would have been the case had we been waiting for poured walls to cure.”
He continued: “Moore Concrete both manufactured and supplied the panels. We were delighted with the very high levels of service provided by the company.”
Moore’s Kyle Crawford was a recent visitor to the McCaughan farm. He commented: “Our pre-stressed wall panels are available in a range of heights and thicknesses depending on the application.
“The wall panels can be used for a wide range of construction purposes. They offer significant time and cost savings over traditional methods.
“There is no need for foundations, as the panels can rest on the post foundation or on a landing bracket, they are then clipped to or slotted in between the RSJ beams, to create a smooth finish.”
Kyle concluded: “We were delighted to have had the opportunity to work with Ciaran and the team at Castle Tower. Our pre-stressed wall panels can also be re-sited if required allowing buildings to be adapted in the future, unlike traditional construction methods.”
For further information, telephone (028) 2565 2566 Ext 1 or view the Moore Concrete website at www.moore-concrete.com