Woodfarm High Pupils set their sights on 4X4 national final
A team of Scottish schoolchildren sponsored by Taylor Wimpey West Scotland is heading for the national final of the annual Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) 4 x 4 in Schools STEM competition.
Our sponsorship is providing support for Team Docs - one of the two teams of Woodfarm High School whizz-kids - to continue their journey to the national final of the competition.
The next round of the competition will be hosted at the British Motor Heritage Museum in Oxfordshire, where students will be asked to design, analyse, make, test and race a scaled remote control 4-wheel drive vehicle that can negotiate a specially design off-road course complete with hills, tunnels, rock crawls and water dips.
The teams use computer coding to programme scaled remote-controlled four-wheel-drive vehicles they designed and built for the competition, all in their lunch hours and after school. As part of their competition entry, teams also have to produce a design portfolio, a ‘pit display’, and give a verbal presentation to a panel of judges and impress them in an engineering interview.
‘Team Docs’ will join around 20 teams of secondary school pupils from across the UK for two days of competition and extended challenges.
Dr Simon Hadfield, Principal Teacher of Science at Woodfarm High School, said: “We are incredibly proud to have two teams taking part in the national final of the JLR 4 X 4 Challenge, and I’m very proud of every one of our students for getting this far. We’ve had several years of success with Team Docs in this competition, including taking part in the World Finals in Abu Dhabi in 2017. This year we are delighted that Team Docs was crowned overall Scottish champions, and we are equally proud of our younger Doclettes team and all they’ve achieved in their first year of competition and scoring well enough to make it through to the finals.
“These pupils are a credit to the school, to Scotland’s standing in the world, and to the future of STEM education in the UK.”
Highlighting the importance of STEM subjects and their contribution to the housebuilding industry is an area of focus for Taylor Wimpey. Kirsty McGill, Head of Sales for Taylor Wimpey West Scotland, explains: “When you consider the importance of the STEM subjects across a number of areas of our business, it’s crucial that we play our role in inspiring children to enjoy these subjects in order to future proof our industry.
“Sponsoring ‘Team Docs’ and promoting their involvement in such a prestigious competition, helps us to bring STEM to life, and hopefully we can encourage more children to have fun with these subjects so they become part of their DNA.”
Maidenhill builds community spirit with toy donation
Representatives from CALA Homes (West) and Taylor Wimpey West Scotland visited children at Isobel Mair School to hand over a donation of brand new construction play equipment.
The donation included construction worker costumes, toolboxes and a workbench and life-size toy bricks – among other items – to help the children build their imaginations.
And some of the children, aged between five and 10 years, had the chance to put the donation to the test with the help of the Maidenhill Sales Executives Angela O’Hara of CALA Homes (West) and Elaine Reilly from Taylor Wimpey West Scotland.
Angela said: “It’s been absolutely wonderful to personally hand over the play equipment to the children. Seeing their faces light up when they saw the toys was just priceless. The team at Maidenhill is going to be part of the local community for some time to come, so to be able to offer support to local schools and groups is fantastic."
Elaine added: “We’ve had a great time delivering some brand new construction toys to the children at Isobel Mair School. We wanted to bring something imaginative that also had some educational value – and that could be enjoyed by as many of the pupils as possible. We’re hoping the children will get plenty of fun from the donation.”
Sarah Clark, Head Teacher at Isobel Mair School said: “We were absolutely delighted to receive the offer of a donation of brand new play equipment from the team at Maidenhill. The children were thrilled to see brand new toys when they came into our ‘Adventure Room’, and I’m sure they’ll have a wonderful time letting their imaginations run wild on their own mini ‘building sites’. We can’t thank the team enough for their generosity.”
Maidenhill marks a moment in time with local primary schools
Six local primary school children have helped the team at Maidenhill mark the development of the brand new community for Newton Mearns, with a time capsule.
The children, from nearby Kirkhill and Mearns Primary Schools, visited the site and had the chance to bury the vessel on the development where there will be more than 800 new homes built.
Items within the time capsule were selected by the children, and included recent local newspaper cuttings, information on Maidenhill, and badges and images representing each of the local schools.
They were helped out on the day by site managers Hugh McKay and David McClure of CALA Homes (West) and Taylor Wimpey West Scotland, respectively.
We were delighted to be invited to the site to contribute to such a momentous occasion. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed burying the time capsule and are looking forward to it being unearthed in the future.
Lesley Menzies, a teacher from Mearns Primary attended on the day. She said: “It was a fantastic experience for the children to bury the time capsule. I am sure that in years to come they will remember that they were part of the history of this new school in our area.
Teacher Samantha Kennedy from Kirkhill Primary School, also brought three children along to help plant the time capsule. She said: “We were delighted to be invited to the site to contribute to such a momentous occasion. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed burying the time capsule and look forward to it being unearthed in the future.”
David McClure, Site Manager for Taylor Wimpey West Scotland at Maidenhill, said: “Maidenhill is going to flourish in the coming years, welcoming couples, young professionals and families into new homes, and it’s lovely to think that, in the future, members of the community will be able to unearth items that were significant when the development first got under way. And, more importantly, items that were chosen and placed here by the kids at two of the town’s own primary schools.”
Maidenhill unveils first phase names with help from locals
The official names for the first phases of the new Maidenhill community in Newton Mearns have been unveiled – with help from a local history group.
Mearns History Group advised CALA Homes (West) and Taylor Wimpey West Scotland in choosing historically significant names for the initial phases of the new development.
Westfield Gardens feature a nod to the Newton Mearns farming community of years gone by.
Audrey Ross, Sales and Marketing Director for Taylor Wimpey West Scotland, said: “We were delighted when the history group agreed to help us out with some advice on our initial phase names. Maidenhill is going to form such a significant part of the community that we wanted to ensure we got the names just right. The hardest part was narrowing down the list of options the group suggested, but we’re very pleased to be using Westfield.”
Maidenhill builds partnership with local charity through £9k pledge
Along with CALA Homes (West), we have pledged a series of donations to East Renfrewshire Good Causes for the duration of the first phase of building works at the new development.
For each of the first 185 homes reserved within the new community, a £50 donation will be made to the charity, which is dedicated to supporting a range of worthy local causes.
This pledges a total of £9,250 which will be used to help people in need across the East Renfrewshire area.
East Renfrewshire Good Causes, which is run by Russell MacMillan of Newton Mearns, has helped thousands of locals since it started its work in 2007.
The charity was originally set up so that Russell could raise the money to ‘repay’ the £70,000 cost of a life-saving double transplant he received in 2007, but has continued beyond to raise and donate more than £356,260 within the local area in addition to products and services which equate to the same value again – helping upwards of 1,800 residents.
Liana Canavan, Sales and Marketing Director for CALA Homes, said: “It means a lot to be able to give back to the local area in which our new community is going to be based, and –together with Taylor Wimpey – we’re delighted to pledge more than £9,000 to help a local cause that we know is close to so many people’s hearts.”
Audrey Ross, Sales and Marketing Director for Taylor Wimpey West Scotland, said: “East Renfrewshire Good Causes reaches out to, and helps, so many people across the local area – and many people are more than aware of the fantastic work Russell does. By donating a guaranteed amount for every home reserved throughout the first phase of the build, it means that those who decide to live within our new community will have given much-needed help to their neighbours, even before moving in.”
Russell MacMillan, founder of East Renfrewshire Good Causes, said: “I’m thrilled to call the team at Maidenhill partners of the charity. The money raised will go towards a number of causes across the region, whether it’s helping the homeless, or local families struggling to make ends meet.
“East Renfrewshire Good Causes is all about providing grass roots support to the local community, and it’s incredible to see CALA Homes and Taylor Wimpey keen to get involved at such a local level.”
Work begins on new Maidenhill Primary school
Work has officially begun on building the primary school at the heart of brand new Newton Mearns community at Maidenhill.
The £12.5million school, Maidenhill Primary, is due to open in August 2019 and will offer 444 primary school places as well as 120 nursery places.
An official ground-breaking event was held on the site with Councillor Paul O’Kane, after the land was handed over to East Renfrewshire Council Taylor Wimpey West Scotland and CALA Homes (West).
We committed land and funding to facilitate the school’s construction as part of a package of community benefits to complement the development of the new neighbourhood.
Liana Canavan, Sales and Marketing Director for CALA Homes, said: “We are proud to have facilitated the construction of a brand new school right at the heart of the Maidenhill community, and it’s fantastic to see work starting already.”
Audrey Ross, Sales and Marketing Director for Taylor Wimpey West Scotland, said: “We pledged a range of community benefits as part of the development of Maidenhill, and it’s wonderful to see one of these coming to fruition. Our priority as soon as we broke ground on the development was to give East Renfrewshire Council access to begin work on the school, and we’re pleased to see this milestone reached.”
Maidenhill Agreement Signals Key Investment In Local Newton Mearns’ Community
We’re delighted to confirm that our Maidenhill development has taken a significant step forward following the agreement of a range of community benefits which will be provided by ourselves and CALA Homes (West) to East Renfrewshire Council.
Early preparatory works are now under way signalling the beginning of the significant range of benefits that Maidenhill will bring to the local community of Newton Mearns.
As well as the delivery of new homes, our multimillion pound investment will see over £9,000 per new home contributed to the following community initiatives:
• Land and funding to facilitate the construction of Maidenhill Primary – a brand new non-denominational school offering 444 primary school places as well as 120 nursery places
• Multiple pockets of land to facilitate the delivery of affordable housing
• A multi-use games area (MUGA) and 3G pitch within the school, and available for use by the wider community
• Generous public open space throughout the development – equivalent to around 19 football pitches – including a linear green corridor and host of pocket parks
• A contribution towards local community halls, sports grounds, sports halls and centres, libraries and community health and care provision
• Contribution of land towards a community faith facility
• Additional contributions towards off-site road improvements at Mearns Cross and sustainable transport
• Contribution towards the Green Network ‘Dam to Darnley’ project
Managing Director, Willie Burns said: “Reaching the conclusion of this agreement for Maidenhill marks another milestone on the journey towards creating a fantastic new community that will complement and become an extension to Newton Mearns’ existing neighbourhoods.
“We’ll be working closely with East Renfrewshire Council and the local community to ensure Newton Mearns reaps the benefits of our long-term investment in the area.”
Local Team 'Nets' Our Support In East Renfrewshire
We have shown our support for local community football in East Renfrewshire by supplying and sponsoring 16 sets of mini-football goals and nets for St Cadocs Youth Club who play locally across the East Renfrewshire area.
St Cadocs Youth Club was first established in 1987 by Mr David Jones for the children of St Cadocs Primary school to participate in football and netball. Now 25 years on the Club has grown beyond the boundaries of the school and includes players from all East Renfrewshire schools and beyond, forming a successful youth club.Team coach Willie Fraser said: “We have in excess of 600 children across 12 different age groups, ranging from aged four, five and six at our mini kickers level all the way through to our under 19’s.
“Our aim is to give children within East Renfrewshire and the surrounding areas an opportunity to enjoy and develop their football and netball skills in a safe and secure environment, with the full support and backing of our club coaches.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to have received this support from Taylor Wimpey West Scotland which will help us to improve the training experience for each of our children’s teams, and provide a very professional match-day set-up for visiting teams.”
Commenting on the sponsorship, Audrey Ross, Sales and Marketing Director for Taylor Wimpey West Scotland said: “We’re delighted to be supporting children’s community football in East Renfrewshire in this way, and we hope that our involvement will bring the club lots of luck in future matches.
“This sponsorship allows us to further establish our links with the local community, and underpins our commitment to create fantastic family homes at our developments across the region.”