🌉 STEM Bridge Building Challenge with Clark Contracts! 🏗️
On Friday 24th April, our P5–7 class welcomed a very exciting visitor into school – Hugh Montague from Clark Contracts.
Clark Contracts work in construction, refurbishment and maintenance, and Hugh spoke to the pupils about some of the projects they have been involved in, including work happening locally at the historic George Hotel in Stranraer, which is currently being redeveloped. It was great for pupils to hear about real careers and projects happening right on their doorstep!
Hugh then led a brilliant STEM bridge building challenge, where pupils had to work in teams to design and build their own bridge. Before beginning, they learned about different types of bridges and explored the names and features of structures such as beam bridges, arch bridges and suspension bridges.
Pupils were split into three teams and each group was given:
🪵 Two pieces of wood (placed a set distance apart)
🥤 Paper straws
🪵 Coloured lolly sticks
📎 Large and small bulldog clips
🟣 Play-doh
🪢 Elastic bands
Using only these materials, teams had 30 minutes to design and build a bridge strong enough to span the gap between the wooden platforms.
The final challenge was then to test how much weight each bridge could hold. Each bridge needed to hold the weight for at least 10 seconds, but the overall winners would be the team whose bridge held the greatest amount of weight before collapsing. This made the final testing very exciting!
The classroom was full of energy as pupils worked against the clock. They showed fantastic teamwork, resilience and creativity while solving problems, adapting designs and encouraging one another. We saw so many brilliant Meta-skills being used throughout the challenge, including:
✨ Collaborating
✨ Communicating
✨ Critical Thinking
✨ Creativity
✨ Adapting
✨ Initiative
✨ Leading
✨ Sense-making
✨ Focusing
The teamwork and encouragement between pupils was fantastic, and everyone supported one another brilliantly throughout the challenge.
🏆 Congratulations to our winning team – The Cherry Blossoms!
Their bridge managed to hold an incredible 1.2kg before finally collapsing — a huge achievement!
Team members were:
⭐ Robin
⭐ Katie
⭐ Ava G
⭐ Nanci-Rose
⭐ Danna
The winning team received certificates and a small prize for their fantastic effort.
A huge thank you to Hugh from Clark Contracts for delivering such an engaging and inspiring workshop. It was a fantastic afternoon of STEM learning, teamwork and problem-solving — and who knows, we may have some future engineers in our class! 🌉✨
🌍 UNCRC Links
- Article 28: Every child has the right to education.
- Article 29: Education should develop every child’s talents and abilities.
🌱 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- SDG 4: Quality Education
- SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
💚 SHANARRI Indicators
- Achieving: Developing engineering and problem-solving skills.
- Included: Working collaboratively in teams.
- Active: Participating in practical, hands-on learning.
💡 Meta-skills
- Collaborating
- Communicating
- Critical Thinking
- Creativity
- Adapting
- Initiative
- Leading
- Sense-making
- Focusing
🌟 The Four Capacities
- Successful Learners: Applying STEM knowledge in real-life contexts.
- Confident Individuals: Sharing ideas and taking risks.
- Responsible Citizens: Learning about careers and local community projects.
- Effective Contributors: Working as a team to solve problems.
✝️ Strands of Faith
- In the Image of God: Using our talents creatively.
- Signs of God: Recognising the gifts of teamwork and innovation.
