The children of Coomb Briggs visit the Humber International Terminal with tour guides and employees l-r, Nicola Bell, Paul Smith and Helen Marshall. Image courtesy of ABP
Staff at Associated British Ports’ (ABP) Humber International Terminal (HIT) who have been volunteering at Immingham’s Coomb Briggs Primary School as part of the Beanstalk reading mentoring programme, turned the tables on their young charges and invited pupils to visit the terminal to find out more about the Port of Immingham.
Beanstalk volunteers and ABP employees Nicola Bell, Helen Marshall and Paul Smith decided to give a lucky group of children their very own private tour of the port.
Helen Marshall, Operations Planner at HIT said: “I’ve visited children at the school almost every week for the past three years to help them with their reading and all of them have asked me about my job, so I thought it would be a nice idea to show them around.”
She continued: “One of the girls was astounded to learn that I worked in a job where there were so many male employees, she had thought that women worked with women and vice versa so it was great to open her eyes to all of these new possibilities.”
A coach collected the children from the school and each pupil was given a miniature hard hat and hi-vis vest to wear and keep as a souvenir of their day on the port estate.
As well as being given the opportunity to try their hand at being an employee for the day while visiting the Marine Control Centre, where they were encouraged to test the CCTV and lock gates, the children were also able to get up close to huge cranes at HIT which they thought resembled dinosaurs.
Jayne Day, Head teacher for Coomb Briggs Primary School joined the tour: “We have a responsibility to raise the aspirations of our pupils, and at the end of the morning they were already talking about what job they would like to do there when they are older.
When asked if the children would be interested in working on the port when they’re older, each one extended their arm to the sky joined with enthused nods and grins.
Mrs Day continued: “We are so appreciative of the organisation of the trip, the time dedicated to us and the experiences that have impacted on learning and thinking. The Port of Immingham is part of our heritage and from a personal perspective as an education manager, to have insight into the responsibilities of port management was fascinating.”
