Children bury time capsule to mark creation of new sixth form college

24 October

Pupils from a Newcastle primary school played their part in history when they helped to bury a time capsule to mark a new sixth form college in the city.

The year five and six pupils from St Joseph’s Primary School in Benwell took part in an art competition to design their dream college, with the four winning entries being placed inside.

The capsule was buried today (Monday, Oct 22) on the site of the new multi-million pound Newcastle Sixth Form College, which will open in the summer of next year and be the only purpose-built sixth form college in the city.

Among the items buried were a copy of Newcastle Sixth Form College’s prospectus and a photograph of its Principal, Steve Gibson; the winning pictures from the schoolchildren’s art competition showing what they thought the new building might look like; a signed shirt from the Newcastle Falcons rugby union team; and a copy of The Journal newspaper.

Also buried were the winning entries of a photographic competition organised by developers BAM Construction, who invited students from the college to capture the construction process.

Pictures taken by Reece Hodgson, from Consett, and Laura Hetherington, from North Shields, were placed in the time capsule.

College Principal Steve Gibson said: “Newcastle Sixth Form College is entering a whole different era as we prepare for the opening of our new building in 2013.

“We have exciting times ahead of us, but we felt strongly that we wanted to recognise the importance of our past, too, and thought a time capsule was a great way of capturing both the old and the new.

“We were delighted when St Joseph’s School took up our invitation to get involved because the primary pupils of today are going to be the lifeblood of the sixth form in the years to come, so it was only right that they played a part.

“Their enthusiasm to get on board was tremendous and they created some wonderful designs.”

The pupils with the winning drawings were Holly Davison, 9, Paige Marshall, 9, Sophie Hall, 10, and Maria Rochowiak, 10.

Elaine Mathews, Headteacher of St Joseph’s School, said she was proud of her pupils’ achievements.

“We have a very strong partnership with Newcastle College going back a number of years, which involves us bringing our year six children to the college every year for a tour as part of a careers project we do, which is designed to encourage them to think about their education after secondary school,” said Elaine.

“When we were asked if we would like to get involved in this project it was something we jumped at because it was a lot of fun and it got our older pupils thinking about what kind of college facilities they would like to see.

“They came up with some amazing ideas, from floating tables and chairs, exotic zoo labs and swimming pools, and, of course, there was a lot of kindles and ipods, too.

“For us, the competition was about the children presenting their ideas and imagination through illustration, and they all did extremely well.”

The new college, which is the only purpose-built sixth form college in the city, is on schedule to be completed in February, with doors opening to students in July.

It will have 150 classrooms, fully-equipped ICT and language labs, debating chamber and a lecture theatre. And, designed to meet the latest best practice in sustainable development, the roof will be covered with a variety of indigenous plants that will flower in summer to attract wildlife, while the reception area will feature a floating classroom, named The Hive.