At Esh Group, we lead the way in constructing sustainable communities. It’s central to our strategy to support the economic, environmental and social wellbeing of the local communities where we work, and we have developed a number of award-winning community engagement programmes that help us achieve this.
Esh Group manage Building My Skills, a yearlong employability skills programme which provides students with a rounded introduction to the world of work through regular, timetabled business engagement sessions as part of the curriculum.
Now in its 5th academic year, Building My Skills is delivered free to all schools. It has received national recognition, including winning Business in the Community’s National Big Tick for Education Partnerships and the Civil Engineering Contractors Association Inspiring Education Award.
We partner with schools for an academic year, with an entire year group receiving 5 x 1-hour long employability guidance sessions, each delivered by a different business guest who provides insight into their career path, their sector and employability skills they value. Guest speakers also provide support with the completion of a ‘checkpoint’ – a piece of the student’s employability portfolio.
Students who complete their employability portfolio and attend all sessions are offered a place at our regional mock interview day.
This academic year, we are proud to work with over 130 businesses from 25 sectors to deliver Building My Skills in 80 schools across our operational regions. We will engage over 11,000 students and generate over 55,000 student engagement hours.
We are already planning for Building My Skills 2017/18 – if your school or business would like to join us please contact a member of the Added Value Team. Read more about our Building My Skills programme by clicking here.
We have developed ‘Get into STEM’ kits to engage our workforce of the future and develop the skill sets which are essential for Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) related careers. Our aim is to positively shape career aspirations from an early age.
Each kit is safe, fun and educational, includes construction related, books, toys and materials which support 4 student exercises; wall building, using ratios, measuring, and designing a structure. There are a range of other materials in the kit that can be used in as a part of a lesson or during free play.
All tasks are supported by project booklets, lesson guidance and handouts, we also provided with a STEM information sheet for students to take home to parents.
The kits support all 7 Key Stage 1 learning outcomes including dexterity, fine motor skills, numeracy, art & design, literacy, physical development, understanding of the world and communication.
They also encourage problem solving, creativity, and help prepare children technological innovations.
Within the last 12 months Get into STEM kits have been deployed in 70 schools and been used by over 3,000 students.
Our kits are loaned to primary schools across our operational areas free of charge for up to 2 weeks, they are dropped off and collected by a member of Esh Group staff who also provide a 30min introduction to the kit.
Get in touch with our Added Value Team today to book Get into STEM for your school.
Within the last calendar year Added Value have advertised over 600 days of work experience for local residents from schools, colleges, universities and job centres within the vicinity of our construction sites.
We organise site and office based placements within Esh Group, externally with trade contractors, suppliers and, in special circumstances, a diverse range of soft services including marketing and design, computer programming, information technology, sport and engineering.
Once on placement candidates gain an understanding of the workplace; all its subtle rules and expectations as in some cases this may be new territory. Each placement candidate is assigned a mentor, completes a workbook, gets involved with real tasks, practices teamwork, experiences a variety of situations and logs their ‘5 insights’.
Work experience placements are organised by Esh Group’s Added Value team in blocks of 5 or 20 days.
“I really enjoyed doing my work experience with Esh, the engineers were very friendly and positive and made me feel very welcome. They have helped me a lot and I learnt so much from them. It was a great experience.” Hemat Khan, Yorkshire
View our Current Work Experience Vacancies online or get in touch with a member of the Added Value Team for more information.
Site visits and safety talks provide an excellent opportunity for Esh Group to showcase the opportunities that the construction industry has to offer. They provide students to the opportunity to engage first-hand in the construction process and to speak to members of site and project teams.
We ensure learners from primary and secondary school pupils to university students get the most out of their visit. When engaging with primary schools, we pair the visit with a ‘Stay Safe’ session where Dudley, our site safety mascot meets students before they attend site, to highlight the dangers of playing around construction sites.
We also provide practical experiences for teaching staff to provide real-life context for teaching.
Within the last calendar year, our Added Value team has organised 60 visits to sites for over 800 people – read more about this by clicking here.
Esh Communities was set up in 2012 to distribute Esh’s Charitable Trust grant support fairly and equally across our operating regions. Since its formation the Esh Charitable Trust has granted over £100,000 to good causes improving the lives thousands of people.
We accepts grant applications from any community group, charitable organisation or social enterprise which can demonstrate the aptitude and ability to make a real difference to their service users.
Applicants complete a simple online application for a grant of between £50 and £1000. If successful the first half of the funding is issued by cheque and the second half when a member of Esh Group staff visits 4 months later.
All visits are carried out by a local Esh Group employee allowing us to learn more about people and issues in the areas we work.
Esh Communities will re-open for applications in October 2017, to be added to our mailing list please contact: addedvalue@esh.uk.com
We’re keen to support local communities by organising opportunities for our workforce to take part in volunteering activities. Volunteering helps our employees develop confidence and new skill sets, it improves morale and, most importantly an opportunity to get out from behind the desk and get stuck in!
We actively encourage all of our staff to help others, be it through fundraising, sharing skill sets and expertise or providing their valuable time.
In January 2017 we will launch a new system which will promote opportunities via Esh Group’s intranet and capture the range of volunteering undertaken by Esh Group employees, from this we hope to calculate a Social Value return on our collective investment.