More than 500 pupils from 13 primary schools across the Borders and Midlothian have had the chance to get hands-on engineering experience – thanks to the Borders Railway Bridges to Schools project, supported by the Institution of Civil Engineering.
Hosted by BAM, principal contractor for the Borders Railway, the project gave pupils from P5, P6 and P7 an insight into the challenges of civil engineering and an opportunity to construct a 2.8m-high model cable-stayed bridge, encouraging the children to work as a team.
Stuart Mackay, communications manager for BAM, said: “The Bridges to Schools workshops provided a great interactive platform to engage with young people across the area about the major engineering activities that are under way to help bring the Borders Railway to life. We’ve had some great feedback from teachers and all of the children who took part really enjoyed playing their part in constructing a model bridge. I think we might even have found some future engineers!”
The BAM-led workshops ran in line with a schools education programme run by the Scottish Youth Theatre to educate primary pupils about railway safety.
The schools which took part in the Bridges to Schools initiative were: Langlee, Burgh, Tweedbank, Glendinning, Balmoral, Heriot, Fountainhall, Stow, Clovenfords , Gorebridge, Newtongrange and Moorfoot.
The photograph shows Cameron Catterall and Adam Blake, from Newtongrange Primary School, participating in Bridges to Schools.