25 July 2012

Costain is backing an ‘Olympic’ event with a difference in South London.

Costain’s Project Skills Co-ordinator, Patricia Walker, and the site team behind the new Deptford Green School project, in Lewisham, are sponsoring a sports and cultural event at the site that will bring together local pupils and their teachers with counterparts from its Ugandan ‘sister school’, Emmanuel Okiria St Kizito, in Kampala.

Head teacher, Peter Campling, and a group of teachers have worked over the past year to plan the activities, which reflect both the vision and variety of the Olympics themselves.

Ten pupils and two tutors are due to arrive from Uganda for an International Olympic Youth Conference over a long weekend of events in August with around 90 pupils from Deptford Green.  Sports events (which will spread into neighbouring Fordham Park) will include football, table tennis and dance theatre. There will also be music, poetry, debates and art sessions.

It will be the final event to be held in the old Deptford Green school building, which will be replaced at the start of the next school term in September by the new Costain-constructed school elsewhere on the site.

Pupils will move into the new building in two stages up to March 2013. “The conference will also be an opportunity to say goodbye to the old school and they are so very looking forward to moving into the fantastic new school in September,” said Patricia.

Among the event’s attractions, groups of pupils will be taken to see Olympic volleyball and basketball events in London.

Costain and its subcontractors at Deptford Green raised some £2,000 towards the event.

Like the Olympics in Stratford, Costain hopes to leave a legacy in the area when it leaves Deptford Green. This includes work experience for more than 30 pupils in Lewisham and apprenticeships for local youngsters.

“We hope the conference will bring together young Londoners from our culturally rich and diverse local area and who represent many corners of the globe so they can meet new friends, enjoy themselves, celebrate sport and creativity and know what it means to be a truly global citizen,” said Patricia.

 

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