On Friday 27th November, the School Council visited Finley’s Steel Fabrication facility in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham. This is the company that is preparing the steel skeleton for our new building. The School Council was accompanied by staff and governors from the school, as well as staff from Gateshead Council. The group had the estimation process (working out how much steel would be needed – 98 tonnes actually) explained to them and tried the company’s CADCAM system for themselves; this was followed by a session with a 40 tonne crane, where the pupils (and some staff) learned how to direct the crane operator delivering the steel frame to us. The final session was looking at the production process, including the actual girders being delivered to us this week; but the absolute highlight was inscribing initials on a girder, to be welded on permanently, and which will form part of the ceiling in the new entrance hall. The photo below is the official ‘team’ photo recording the visit.
