The Olympic Delivery Authority’s (ODA) Construction Crew took part in a two day leadership workshop and tour of the Olympic Park last Thursday and Friday. We had a really positive couple of days! The Construction Crew is made up of 20 young people from eight schools across the Host Boroughs (Greenwich, Newham, Hackney, Waltham Forest and Tower Hamlets).
The Construction Crew with ODA Chief Executive, David Higgins (far right):
The Construction Crew will visit the Olympic Park and meet as a group once every two months over a six month period, to learn more about the ODA’s work. There will be a different focus for the Construction Crew each time we meet, which has started with 'being greener', which is about the environment and sustainability. History and archaeology, and employment and skills will be the other two themes. All are key areas of the ODA’s work.
In between meetings, Crew members will lead ODA, Olympic Park and construction-related activities in their own schools, which might be a school-wide recycling initiative or an assembly on the ODA’s commitment to renewable energy. I know the first Construction Crew assembly is taking place this Wednesday at one of the schools in Hackney. Chinonso and Sharla are the students there. We are looking forward to hearing how they get on.
Sharing ideas with their teacher:
The workshop and tour last week aimed to provide the Construction Crew members with the knowledge and confidence to return to their schools to share with their schoolmates the exciting things they have seen, done and learnt about.
The Crew members work together to make a poster:
I met the Construction Crew for the first time in July, before the school summer holidays just after they had been given the role by the participating member of staff from each school. The group were excited about their involvement and what is happening on the Olympic Park. I asked them to answer five questions over the holidays. One of them was: who is the Chief Executive of the ODA? David Higgins came to meet the Crew on the second day of the workshop last week so they were able to find out directly, if they didn’t already know the answer!
The Construction Crew should be blogging themselves reasonably regularly from here, so keep an eye on the website.
