Volunteers from Siemens Mobility’s Goole Rail Village have completed a makeover of the playground at Kingsway Primary School in Goole.
The project created an outdoor learning environment and play space, designed to inspire learning, promote wellbeing, and reinforce Siemens Mobility’s commitment to the local community and STEM engagement.
Siemens Mobility donated over £2,000 for raw materials, and a team of 10 volunteers completed building and joinery work over a week during the school holidays.
Natalie Thornton, Operations Support Manager at Siemens Mobility, said:
“The project aims to encourage children at a very young age to be excited by STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects, simply through having fun.
“The areas, from the wormery to the water play, ignite interest in sustainability, science, and engineering concepts, while promoting safety and creativity.”
The makeover took place in the Year 1 playground at the school, which has over 400 pupils.
New features include a construction zone, a gardening patch with a wormery and insect hotel, an outdoor library, and a theatre for teaching and performance.
Additional installations comprise a mud kitchen, sandpit train, waterfall, weather vane, rain gauge, and thermometer.
This initiative is the latest example of Siemens Mobility’s community engagement close to their Goole Rail Village, a state-of-the-art facility which represents an investment of up to £240 million.
The facility is assembling tube trains for Transport for London’s Piccadilly line and is where Siemens Mobility also intends to assemble battery bi-mode trains for the UK rail network.
Maddy Barker, Siemens Mobility Operations Support Assistant and project leader, said:
“Creating Kingsway Primary School’s new outdoor learning space has been a truly rewarding experience. As someone who has lived in Goole all my life, I’m passionate about giving back to the community I call home.
“This project is a great example of Siemens Mobility’s ongoing commitment to making a positive impact locally and I’m proud of the way our team came together to support such a meaningful initiative.”
The Year 1 teaching team at Kingsway Primary School said:
“Thanks to the generous donations to our outdoor learning area, the children have experienced a noticeable boost in their development across several key areas.
“With more space to explore, create and collaborate, the children have shown increased independence, resilience and joy in their learning. The freedom to engage with nature and each other has nurtured their curiosity, motivation and ability to concentrate – core characteristics of effective learning.”
Over the past five years, Siemens Mobility has also engaged with almost 30 schools, more than 2,000 primary school children and 80 teachers through an annual education programme in partnership with national charity, Primary Engineer, involving a series of workshops delivered by Siemens Mobility’s volunteer STEM Ambassadors.