Satro - Vocational Construction

Vocational Construction

Our construction classrooms come weekly to your site to teach practical hands-on construction skills. We provide all the tools, equipment, materials and training across all abilities. Our tutors have experience in the industry and teaching. They have chosen to work with us to inspire the next generation in construction.

We provide a range of practical units: Joinery, Electrics and Plumbing. A good basis is provided in Health and Safety across all practical units with additional units on Careers and Organisational Skills.

Years 9 -13

Who is it for?

“The SATRO programme which runs at our Hersham site has invigorated the curriculum on a Tuesday morning. Weekly sessions have provided 5 of our pupils with the chance to gain and develop vocational or work based skills they will need for further education and employment. Our pupils have worked their way through a well sequenced curriculum which encapsulates carpentry, electrical engineering, plumbing and many other trade-based skills.

All pupils have gained much more than qualifications form the SATRO sessions. For one of our pupils who had barely attended school for two years, the SATRO sessions played a vital role in re-engaging him in education. As well as this missed schooling, this particular pupil had a variety of complex learning needs, however, the sessions were expertly catered to his needs, to allow him to access all of the new knowledge and content.”

Deputy Head, North East Surrey Short-Stay School, 2023

Schools choose the SATRO Construction Classroom for those that wish to study and follow a Construction qualification, for students who find mainstream education difficult and need a vocational subject to engage their learning, or to provide practical sessions to students who struggle in their learning.

We bring all that is necessary to teach a practical hands-on construction skills for two hours every week for up to 8-10 students subject to agreement.

Students on the 2 year Certificate will study joinery, plumbing and electrics. All our practical units include information about the opportunities in the Green Energy economy which will be growing for young people with the skills we are teaching. An important addition to the qualification is a Progression Planning unit which supports students consider pathways into careers in the construction industry and another on Organisational Skills. Throughout the course we also focus on employability skills and have just been awarded a Skills Builder Partnership Level 4 Impact Badge.

SATRO offer the following courses:

BTEC Level 1 Introductory Construction - 1 year Award and 2 year Certificate
AQA Unit Awards - For those with poor attendance or additional needs not ready for the commitment of a full BTEC course. Can be used as a introduction for RPL progression.
Taster Courses (6 -12 weeks) to support student subject choices or as a practical activity
SEN practical and vocational skills - SATRO Award

We currently work with over 30 schools and colleges including mainstream, SEN, alternative provision, pupil referral units and employability programmes. Each week we deliver over 100 hours of vocational teaching.

Results In 2024 we celebrated our student's success with the following achievements:

Construction Festival: a key part of our Construction Programme is the opportunity to attend our Construction Festival, which is offered to all our 1st year students. This gives them an insight into the pathways into, and careers in, the construction industry and this year will be held on the 28th November 2024 in Guildford. Feedback from students from previous events:

84% agreed they are more aware of how to gain employment within the construction industry,
81% agreed that ConstructionFest introduced them to careers they didn't know about,
75% met someone or took part in an activity that changed their attitude to construction careers.

In addition 94% of teachers agreed that students had been supported in understanding their career choices.

"This is what vocational education should be! "

Assistant Head July 2021

This programme meets the GATSBY Benchmarks: linking to the curriculum (GB4); engagement with employers and employees (GB5) and experience of the workplace (GB6).

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Outcomes

SATRO have been running the construction programme for over 15 years and this academic year we had over 500 students studying with our seven tutors in schools across the region.

In 2023 we awarded:

86 BTEC Level 1 Introductory Certificates (2 years) of which 6% Distinction and 34% Merits
59 BTEC Level 1 Introductory Awards (1 year) of which 17% Distinction and 24% Merits
13 BTEC Unit Notifications
267 SATRO Awards

A further 84 are continuing their studies with us into the next academic year.

Teacher feedback was overwhelmingly positive on the outcomes achieved by students:

What was the most important element of the SATRO sessions for your students ?

"The sense of achievement they get from completing practical projects whilst also developing important skills to serve them well in their future."

What are the next steps for the students on the SATRO construction course this year?

"Staying at school for post 16, college to study a construction related subject, apprenticeship in construction"

Would you recommend this course to other schools and if so, why?

"Yes - the approachability of the tutors, the strong support from SATRO centrally, value form money and the outcomes that students achieve not just academically but socially and physically"

To find out more visit our online construction resources that were developed during lockdown to support our students with their ongoing studies.

Visit our Online Construction Resources

Volunteering with our Construction Classes

Careers Chat

As part of learning for all our construction students we welcome volunteers to join sessions to share their career experiences. We welcome apprentices, local trades people, site managers, business owners and the construction industry. Topics of discussion include:

pathways into the industry: work experience, traineeships, apprenticeships, college courses;
industry requirements such as CSC cards;
a day on the job;
working in a team;
career pathways and salary expectations.

This is a 1-2 hour commitment in a SATRO classroom located close to home or a workplace across our 5 counties of operation.

"I really enjoyed visiting both schools (mainstream and pupil referral unit), Rob is great at his job! It is a shame to hear that PRU school funding is difficult as the students were great and I think it really gave them a space away from their problems." SATRO Volunteer 2022

Site Visits

We welcome the opportunity to take small groups of 8-10 students from school to a local construction site (big or small) to see for themselves the industry at work. This will be organised with the school and our construction tutor will join the class on the visit to relate learning back into their classroom.

Visits will normally last 1-2 hours in total allowing students to return to school within a half day session. SATRO will coordinate visits between the school and the construction site to ensure that all H&S and Safeguarding requirements are organised.

Find out more about SATRO volunteeering or site visit opportunities

Our Sponsors

Thanks to the generosity of the following supporters we are able to deliver this highly impactful programme giving young people, who have often been left behind, the opportunity to study for a vocational qualification that gives them future educational and employment opportunities.

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LeoLion Foundation

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