Developing Talent with Media4Schools

Our Glamorgan office played a key role in the Media4Schools Awards 2009 recently.

Media4Schools is an education based media training initiative where pupils and their teachers are trained in media production skills & techniques. They are then supported and mentored to produce their own programmes via links between the schools and various local businesses.

Glamorgan's involvement with Media4Schools came through working with them to produce a promotional DVD for Capita Symonds Glamorgan – ‘Capita Glamorgan – 1 Year On’. The video can be seen below.

The 'Media4Schools Awards' are used to highlight and acknowledge how the pupils demonstrated their skills, developed their enterprise awareness and helped to raise the profile of their school within the community. The awards categories are based on curriculum-related topics and regional topics of interest which link in with social and community initiatives in their areas.

The Glamorgan office sponsored the ‘Award for Best Community Film’ which was won by Clydach Vale for their film ‘Coal and Community’. Produced with Tonypandy Community College and Cwm Clydach Communities First, the film looks at the Cambrian Mining disaster of 1965, exploring its effects through interviews with members of the community including survivors and rescuers.

Some festive fun - Shootin Sprouts

Capita Symonds presents...................

Shootin' Sprouts! Our fun festive sprout-flinging game.

It's the office Christmas party and you've been served sprouts! Eugh!

Get rid of those evil greens as quickly as possible - using your colleagues as target-practice.

Challenge your friends and try and get to the top of our leader board

Go shoot some sprouts!

Up, up and away

A £1m transformation of a Blackburn primary school has been unveiled with a balloon race.

Griffin Park Primary has been re-modelled as part of a £15m programme of school improvement works across the region. To celebrate, the school hosted an open day for all staff, past and present, children, parents and governors.

A team from our Blackburn office (Su Sealby, Catherine Cramsie, Duncan Clement, Gavin Lang and Ryan Skehan) was responsible for the overall design, project, program and contract management of the construction works which involved remodelling the interior of the school with a new extension housing an improved entrance, reception, offices, circulation, staff and pupil facilities.

The celebrations started with a balloon race, with a prize for the furthest travelling one, followed by a buffet and tour for visitors.

Head teacher Catherine Grady-Clayton said: "The improvement to the buildings has made an amazing impact on the feel of our school. The staff, the children, the parents all comment on how wonderful it looks, and what a fantastic place it now is to work. It has given us a real buzz to work in such a lovely environment, and we all feel very special and very lucky for being part of Griffin ParkSchool."

Councillor Chris Thayne, executive member for children's services, added: "I am delighted to see the work has now been completed. The buildings now do justice to the quality of learning that takes place within. This investment will have a huge impact on helping children to achieve their potential and have a happy, healthy and safe childhood."

Duncan Clement, building surveying manager from Capita Symonds, who led the design team, said: "We understand the importance of creating exciting spaces in which young people can learn and it is a pleasure to know that we are truly benefiting young people in the area."

Work has been completed as part of Blackburn with Darwen's capital programme for 2009/2010, which includes a range of large and smaller projects to improve and develop schools and other buildings.

Cwmbran Road Safety Music Challenge

Our Cwmbran office organised the final of a local Road Safety Music Challenge recently.

Five local comprehensive schools took part, performing compositions on an Anti Drink-Drive theme.

The winners, which were decided by a panel of three judges - Polly James from Nation Radio, Steve Baker from ROSPA and St John Diston from Gwent Music – were:

First: Lewis School Pengam (£250)
Second: Abertillery Comprehensive (£150)
Third: Nantyglo Comprehensive (£100)

The prizes were presented by Chief Superintendent Kevin Price of Heddlu Gwent Police who said, “The high standard and amount of effort put in by these young people is very impressive. They are promoting an important message. For many years we have tried a range of strategies to get the anti drink drive message over. Music is a powerful medium and these musicians are in a position to influence their peer group, families and the wider community. They are our future and I seek their support in getting over this important message.”

Cllr John Evans, Mayor of Caerphilly CBC said: “The standards shown by the students this evening have been absolutely superb. I am glad that I’m not one of the judges as choosing the winner will be very difficult!”

Helen Davidson, project manager of Music Challenge for Capita Symonds said, “Engaging with this age group can be difficult but music has helped the barriers come down. The depth of understanding within the lyrics is very impressive, I am sure none of the performers and their friends will ever drink and drive now.”

The winning band will have the opportunity to record their song at a commercial recording studio. It will also be used as the basis of an advertisement on Nation Radio to promote the All Wales Anti Drink- Drive Campaign.

Winners Lewis Boys School with Cllr John Evans

Be bright, be seen

The Casualty Reduction team from our Blackburn Partnership office have joined forces with Road Safety GB and Think! to keep local young people safe this winter.

Road Safety Officers from Capita Symonds will be delivering ‘Be bright, be seen’ presentations in schools, community centres and mosques across the borough in a bid to reduce the number of injuries on our roads. Posters will also be distributed and displayed at various venues across the region.

Graham Campbell, Casualty Reduction Team Leader, said: “We have seen a 61% reduction in killed or seriously injured road casualties across the borough since 2007. This is great news but there are still pedestrians who are putting themselves in unnecessary danger. Just a few key things can help reduce the risk of being injured, particularly as the evenings become darker and we are working with children to make sure they are fully equipped to use roads safely. “

Councillor Alan Cottam, executive member for regeneration and environment, added: "As the nights get darker you have to be especially careful about where and when you cross the road. Look for well lit places, so drivers can spot you more easily. This is about keeping the borough's young people safe so I would urge everyone to heed the advice and 'be bright, be seen.' "

Halloween Record Breaker

Mark Hankin from Capita Symonds’ Barrow office attempted to set the world record for the most tarot readings on Halloween. Mark read for 75 people over the 12 hours, raising over £650 for charity.



He says: “We had a great day and there was a real energy and buzz about the place. The midnight reading was done by electric candle and went very well. After the reading we turned off the candles and had quite a ghostly experience, hearing low breaths and Lisa, the girl who won the midnight reading, felt the breath on her face. She also felt ‘someone’ touch her shoulder three times, we both heard footsteps and I had the sleeve of my shirt pulled. To top it off, I saw two orbs (which some say is light reflecting off dust particles, but when there is no light, how can that be?).

I am in the process of collecting all the evidence for the Guinness Book of World Records and will be sending that off soon. I’m already planning a similar event for the Summer Solstice - I may make that a 24 hour reading marathon.”

Sound Design

IET Faraday (from The Institute of Engineering and Technology) is an exciting year-long programme of resources, activities, competitions and events designed to inspire young people about science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).

'Urban Evolution' - this year's theme looks at some of the most innovative structures we live amongst today, as well as what we might have in the future. As part of this theme they have showcased the work undertaken by Capita Symonds' Acoustics team on the O2 in Dublin.

"The Acoustic Engineering team were faced with a daunting challenge – turning the historic Point Theatre in Dublin into a 14,000-seat modern concert venue. The whole site had to be transformed and completely redeveloped from the existing warehouse space into a world-class venue with unparalleled acoustics. The challenge? The building is right in the centre of a residential area – requiring the acoustic team to come up with a solution that means the noise from the newly named O2 Dublin did not exceed its planning licensing limits." Find out more and watch the video on the IET Faraday website

My digital world

Kate Nelson, Principal Sustainability Consultant, Talks about her Digital World.

The original article appears on Building Sustainability Design's website

What is your favourite website?

I am hooked on www.etsy.com – its mission is to reconnect makers with buyers and it has a fantastic shop local function which hooks me into all the UK based designers and artists. As someone who works in responsible procurement, I love the idea of buying one-off, handmade items instead of mass produced goods.

What is your favourite gadget?

It isn’t really a gadget but last year I became a mac user and it was love at first drag and drop.

What’s the most useful website you access for your work?

I recently worked out that the best way to get the latest information was to stop subscribing to email newsletters and follow your favourites on twitter instead. It keeps your inbox clear and you can pick and choose what to follow up on. At the moment I am following Ethical Corporation, Building and the UN Climate Change 09 tweeters.

What was the last track you downloaded?

I am all about spotify.com at the moment where you can listen to most albums for free (legally!) but the last download was Useful Chamber by Dirty Projectors.

What was the subject of the last email you received?

Skittles! We are currently building an intranet for our sustainable design lab which will link our designers, architects, engineers, planners and project mangers together in sharing best practice and developing new tools for our projects. We have been inspired by the skittles website which plugs into twitter, flickr and youtube to generate content which means it is by the people for the people.

Social networking or face-to-face?

Hard to say, I am a fair weather friend of facebook but I can see its potential. At this stage I must say a conversation over a pint of ale is my preference.

Who is your favourite blogger?

My favourite blogger at the moment would have to be my friend Charlotte who is on gastro boot camp at the moment in Ireland - http://chopchop-charlotte.blogspot.com

Charlotte works for Sustain and she has helped me be a more ethical eater particularly when it comes to fish.

What’s been the best link you’ve ever been sent?

www.walkit.com – we are based on Victoria and I find I can walk to all my meetings instead of spending time cooped up in taxis and tubes.

What was the last thing you bought online?

A fruit and veg box from Abel and Cole

What was the funniest piece of spam you ever received?

Spammers have become so lazy so I haven’t had a good piece in ages, but I did hear a funny story about spam which involved a major tunnelling project and a filter which automatically deleted emails which included the word 'shaft'.

Big Gig, Big Cause

Capita Symonds and Capita in Blackburn have joined forces with Blackburn with Darwen Council and the NHS to offer a fantastic night of live music on Friday 16th October.

Bands featuring staff from across the partner organisations will be playing at the BIG gig in Blackburn in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust.

Blackburn Landscape Architect Nick Miller and his band - Second Hand Wings - will play tracks from his debut album ‘War of the Roses’. Also playing are local bands ‘shakeys brother’, ‘the majesticks’ and ‘luva gunk’. Tickets are free with fundraising on the night.

Donna Neely, Business Developer from the Blackburn office said "Following the success of the JAM Tribute night earlier this year we decided to hold another music event for our staff and partners. The BIG gig will raise valuable money for Teenage Cancer Trust and showcase some of the finest local talent. All of the bands are fantastic and I hope they receive lots of support from their colleagues on the night!"

Capita Symonds celebrates Ramadan

Capita Symonds and Capita sponsored Blackburn's first ever Chand Raat Festival, held to celebrate the end of Ramadan.

Hundreds of people flocked to Blackburn Market and then to Town Hall Square for the special Eid Festival, which was held the day before Eid-ul-Fitr – the annual celebration ending the Islamic month of fasting.

The finest in Asian produce was on offer with stalls selling a wide range of items from clothes, embroidered material, jewellery, scents, hijabs and purses to foods, accessories, Islamic art, shawls and scarves.

Zunny Dar from Capita Group offered henna painting at her stall (sponsored by Capita). Children from local primary schools were invited to take part in an eid card competition with prizes donated by Capita.