KATIE’S BADGE DESIGN IS A WINNER FOR NEW SCHOOL IN CAMBUSLANG
The unveiling of the new Newton Farm Primary School signals a real milestone of achievement for everyone involved in the delivery of the master plan vision for the area, but for one family it means they’ll have a hand in this area’s future for a very long time to come.
Katie Anderson, aged 6, lives with her family in a new home at our Newton Farm development, and she was the winner of a competition to design the new school badge. She’s moved into Primary 2 in the new school, and her mum Julie is absolutely delighted that her daughter’s design was chosen as the winner as she explains: “The opening of the new primary school is a really exciting time for Newton Farm and we’re just so proud of Katie.
“Her school badge design will be worn by children for many years to come, and that will always give us a very special connection to this area and the school. What’s been lovely is that all the children who were joining the new school have been involved with it in lots of different ways – one little girl has designed the school tie and colours, Katie designed the badge and all of the children were involved in choosing the name for the school.”
Katie used the setting of Newton Farm as the inspiration for her design as she explains: “I thought about the countryside around Newton Farm and the deer that we sometimes see. And my thistle design was to be part of our surroundings just like the countryside and the deer are.”
The winning school badge design takes pride of place on every part of the new school’s impressive uniform, which includes jackets, cardigans, jumpers and even school bags. It’s even the first welcome for visitors to the school as Mrs Meechan, Head Teacher at Newton Farm Primary School comments: “We’re thrilled with the badge design that Katie has created for our new school, and our children are all looking very smart in their new uniforms. The school badge design has even been etched into the glass entrance door to our beautiful new school and it is already creating a talking point for visitors.”
As well as the excitement of the new school, Katie’s family are really enjoying family life at Newton Farm as mum Julie adds: “We looked around several areas including Lindsayfield in East Kilbride, and we fell in love with the space of the four bedroom detached Maxwell house. But when we realised that we could buy exactly the same house at Newton Farm and move back to Cambuslang where I’d grown up, we just knew it was the right move for us.”
Building new homes is just one aspect of development life for Taylor Wimpey at Newton Farm as Audrey Ross, Sales and Marketing Director adds: “Over the years and over the course of several phases of new homes, Newton Farm has evolved to be a great place to call home for hundreds of our customers.
“As part of our Section 75 Agreement with South Lanarkshire Council, we provided around seven acres of serviced land for Newton Farm Primary School to be built, so we’re delighted to see this vision come to life and to welcome the new school as our new neighbours at the development.
“We are also very excited to learn that Katie’s school badge design will be part of community life at Newton Farm for many years to come!”
Katie and her family with her winning school badge design.
We’re Guiding Kids Along The Path To Healthy Living!
This autumn we are urging families in Cambuslang to leave the car keys at home and make the journey to school on foot instead.
Once again we’re supporting Walk to School Month, an annual initiative held in October that aims to promote healthy living. The initiative also aims to reduce levels of traffic and make roads safer for all.
With the evenings drawing in as the darker months approach, we have handed over 750 high-visibility snap bands to Newton Farm Primary School and St Charles Primary School in Newton Farm to help keep pupils safe on their way to and from school.
The donation forms part of a national Taylor Wimpey scheme to supply more than 14,900 snap bands to schoolchildren all across the country.
According to Living Streets, the charity behind the Walk to School campaign, 70% of youngsters made the journey to school on foot a generation ago, but now that number has more than halved.* It is the organisation’s aim to reverse this downward trend.
A team from our Newton Farm development also took the opportunity to give the children at both schools some reminders about health and safety ahead of the school October holidays as production at Newton Farm continues.
We are always keen to promote the dangers associated with playing near any construction site, and our team took this ideal opportunity to raise the awareness of the children’s need to be extra vigilant as the work progresses to deliver its range of new homes.
Audrey Ross, Regional Sales and Marketing Director, says: “We are thrilled to be supporting Walk to School again this year and are proud to be working with both Newton Farm Primary School and St Charles Primary Schools that sit as our neighbours at our Newton Farm development in Cambuslang to encourage families to realise the benefits of leaving the car keys at home.
“Walking to school is a fantastic way for children to get active and we hope they enjoy using our snap bands to help keep them safe on the journey.
“Combining our Walk to School campaign with a reminder to children never to play near a construction site has created an interactive way for us to convey a very important message that we’re keen to spread amongst the local community, especially ahead of the October school holiday.”
Catherine Meecham, Head Teacher at Newton Farm Primary School, says: “As well as promoting a healthy lifestyle to students, walking to school is also a huge help in reducing the volume of traffic outside school, thereby making the area safer for all.
“On behalf of our whole school, I would like to say a big thank you to Taylor Wimpey for this donation and for their help in raising awareness of Walk to School Month among our pupils and their parents.”
Margaret Harris, Head Teacher at St Charles Primary School, adds: “This is a fun and informative way to engage our children in getting active safely. Many of our children already walk to school and using the high-viz bands will certainly brighten up their journey to and from school whilst also helping to keep them safe.
“Having the chance to meet some of the team building the new homes near our school has been an ideal way to remind the children never to play near the construction site regardless of how inviting it may look.”
Pupils from Newton Farm Primary School show-off their high visibility bands as part of Taylor Wimpey’s support of Walk to School Month with Ian Holden, Taylor Wimpey’s Health and Safety Advisor, and Steph Campbell, Site Manager at Newton Farm, following their health & safety presentation.
Newton Farm Primary School Opens Its Doors
We are delighted to welcome our new neighbours as Newton Farm Primary School is now officially open - signalling an incredible milestone in the delivery of the masterplan vision for this community. As part of our Section 75 Agreement with South Lanarkshire Council we provided around seven acres of serviced land for Newton Farm Primary School to be built, and so far our education contributions to date have reached just over £3.1m. We will make further contributions of £6.8m over the next 4.5 years underpinning our commitment to the local area.
Newton Farm Primary School is located on Harvester Avenue overlooking our new show homes at the development, and it can cater for up to 500 primary aged children. This new purpose-built school also has a nursery that will welcome children from aged two, and it offers a range of impressive features including an integrated Community Facility with a full-sized 3G football pitch ensuring that it will be a popular hub in this new and emerging community.
Taylor Wimpey Supports Local School Sensory Garden at Newton Farm, Cambuslang
Taylor Wimpey West Scotland has teamed up with its neighbouring primary school in Newton Farm – St Charles Primary School - to give them a generous £500 donation towards the creation of a new sensory garden where pupils will be encouraged to explore all five senses and experience the sights, sounds and tranquillity of the new space that’s being created.
As well as a generous cash injection, Taylor Wimpey has also supplied a member of its team to clear and prepare the area of ground ahead of the installation of new sensory plants and benches for the children to be able to relax and enjoy the most of their new garden.
A water feature and wind chimes will add further sensory dimensions to stimulate all of the children’s senses that will create an outdoor learning environment by transforming an underutilised strip of the playground into an engaging and interesting space for everyone to enjoy.
As work continues at Taylor Wimpey’s neighbouring Newton Farm development, the site team were more than happy to offer a helping hand as Audrey Ross, Sales and Marketing Director for Taylor Wimpey West Scotland adds: “We’re always keen to offer our support within the local communities in which we build, and we were delighted to be able to help with this unique request from St Charles Primary School.
“Creating a sensory garden within the school playground will provide a new space for children to learn as well as play and I’m sure it will be a very rewarding experience for the children as they watch their garden grow and mature.”
Eileen Feeley, Deputy Head Teacher adds: “We were thrilled when Taylor Wimpey said they could help us with our unusual request because without their assistance we were concerned that it just wouldn’t have been possible to start our new sensory garden this year.
“They’ve given us a great helping hand to get the area cleared, and that means that we can use their generous donation towards creating some of the lovely features that we want to include within our new garden space.
“We want to create a stimulating and rewarding environment from what was an underused strip of ground that had become overgrown and with Taylor Wimpey’s help we’re now well on our way to achieving our ambitions for the space.
“Having a sensory garden will be a real bonus for both our children and staff, and we’re very excited that Taylor Wimpey has been able to get us up and running.
“The children will be fully involved in choosing what plants and vegetables to grow in our new garden as well as other aspects which we hope to include such as wind chimes and a water feature. I’m sure they’ll make a great job of creating a garden that we’re all very proud of.”
We gave the local children of nearby St Charles Primary School some reminders about health and safety.
We are keen to promote the dangers associated with playing near any construction site, and raise awareness of the children’s need to be extra vigilant as construction of our new homes at the development continues.
Being proactive with local schools has proven an effective deterrent in the past as our production manager, Brian Henderson explains: “Health and safety in and around our construction areas is of vital importance to Taylor Wimpey, and taking this type of proactive approach with local schools allows us to reinforce just how important it is for children to stay away from building sites.
“Our lesson plan delivered by our Health & Safety consultants allows us to promote a very important message in a fun and interactive way. Having the chance to chat to the children in school serves as the perfect reminder for the children that building sites are not playgrounds!”
Margaret Harris is Head Teacher of St Charles Primary School: “I was delighted to welcome Taylor Wimpey into our school to highlight the dangers associated with children playing near any construction site. Given their development of new homes is very close to our school, and we will have a significant amount of construction work in the local area for some time this proactive engagement with our children is very important.
“It’s great that Taylor Wimpey understands the importance of our children’s safety, and has created such an interactive and proactive approach to appeal to our pupils.”
We give Lesson in Safety to Local School in Cambuslang.
As work begins on the construction of the first area of new homes in phase two of our development at Newton Farm, we gave the local children of nearby St Charles Primary School some reminders about health and safety.
We are keen to promote the dangers associated with playing near any construction site, and raise awareness of the children’s need to be extra vigilant as construction of our 122 new homes at the development gets into full swing and adds to the existing construction activity to complete the previous phase.
Being proactive with local schools has proven an effective deterrent in the past as our production manager, Brian Henderson explains: “Health and safety in and around our construction areas is of vital importance to Taylor Wimpey, and taking this type of proactive approach with local schools allows us to reinforce just how important it is for children to stay away from building sites.
“Our lesson plan delivered by our Health & Safety consultants allows us to promote a very important message in a fun and interactive way. Having the chance to chat to the children in school serves as the perfect reminder for the children that building sites are not playgrounds!”
Margaret Harris is Head Teacher of St Charles Primary School: “I was delighted to welcome Taylor Wimpey into our school to highlight the dangers associated with children playing near any construction site. Given their development of new homes is very close to our school, and we will have a significant amount of construction work in the local area for some time this proactive engagement with our children is very important.
“It’s great that Taylor Wimpey understands the importance of our children’s safety, and has created such an interactive and proactive approach to appeal to our pupils.”