At a Glance
28
Students Reached
Year 10 · Age 14–15
£118.51
Social Value Generated
7 staff-hours × £16.93
7.0
Staff-Hours Contributed
Delivery, prep & travel · 2 presenters
4
Gatsby Benchmarks Met
Out of 8
Session Summary
Activity
Construction Careers Talk
Employer
Maenan Build & Civil Ltd
Presenter
Rhys Davies, Site Manager
School
Ysgol Cwm Aled, Flintshire
Year Group
Year 10 (Class 10C)
Students
28 (14 female · 14 male)
Format
In-person, classroom Q&A
Sectors covered
Construction
Civil Engineering
Net Zero
Digital
Rhys Davies, Site Manager at Maenan Build & Civil Ltd, delivered a 55-minute in-person careers session to Year 10 students at Ysgol Cwm Aled. The session covered career pathways in construction from apprenticeship to site management, the growing demand for green skills and net zero literacy in the sector, and real-world digital tools used on modern construction sites.
Students were given time to ask questions and were introduced to local apprenticeship routes available in Flintshire and across North Wales. A pre-session interest register showed 11 of 28 students had cited construction or engineering as a possible career interest.
The session was delivered using the Owl Build pack — bilingual, neurodiverse-aligned, and structured around real sector roles rather than generic career advice.
Post-session survey completed by 24 of 28 students.
Social Value — Costed Measures
| Contribution |
What was given |
Hours |
Rate |
Total |
| Session delivery |
The session itself
55 minutes in the classroom, two presenters — time given on the firm's clock, beyond any funded work.
|
1.8 hrs |
£16.93 / hr |
£30.47 |
| Preparation |
Getting it ready
Adapting the Owl Build pack, checking the interest register, agreeing the format with the school.
|
3.0 hrs |
£16.93 / hr |
£50.79 |
| Travel |
Getting there and back
Two presenters, site to school and return.
|
2.2 hrs |
£16.93 / hr |
£37.25 |
| Reach |
Students reached
Counted, never costed — reach is a number of people, not a number of pounds. Multiplying pupils by a proxy is how social value gets inflated; we don't do it.
|
28 students |
— |
Counted |
| Total Social Value Generated — 7.0 staff-hours × £16.93 |
£118.51 |
How this is costed: 7.0 staff-hours × £16.93 = £118.51. The proxy is £16.93 an hour — National TOMs 2022, measures NT8/NT17/NT29, on an ONS replacement-cost basis at 2021 prices — applied to the hours the firm actually gave, including preparation and travel. Students are counted as reach, never multiplied into pounds. Every rate is published with its source at
owlimpact.wales/methodology.
Gatsby Benchmarks — Curriculum for Wales
✅
Benchmark 1
Met
A stable careers programme
Ysgol Cwm Aled is a registered owl.wales school partner. This session is part of a structured, timetabled programme.
✅
Benchmark 2
Met
Learning from career and labour market information
Session included North Wales construction sector data, apprenticeship vacancy information, and wage projection data for the region.
✅
Benchmark 4
Met
Linking curriculum learning to careers
Session explicitly linked GCSE Maths, DT and ICT skills to real site roles. Students shown how classroom subjects apply in construction.
✅
Benchmark 5
Met — Primary
Encounters with employers and employees
Direct, in-person encounter with a working Site Manager from a North Wales construction company. Q&A included. This is the core Gatsby benchmark this session directly delivers.
⚡
Benchmark 3
Partial
Addressing the needs of each pupil
Post-session survey collected. Individual follow-up for 3 students who expressed strong construction interest is planned for next visit. Full differentiation requires a second touchpoint.
○
Benchmark 6
Planned — Next Visit
Experiences of workplaces
Site visit to Maenan's Flintshire project scheduled for July 2026. This session was a prerequisite — students must have a careers encounter before a site visit.
○
Benchmark 7
Not this session
Encounters with further and higher education
Not in scope for this session. Grŵp Llandrillo Menai session planned for autumn term.
○
Benchmark 8
Not this session
Personal guidance
Individual guidance appointments to be offered to interested students through the school's careers lead following this session.
Green Skills & Net Zero Thread
🌱
Net Zero Skills Coverage — Built Into Every Session
This session included dedicated content on the construction sector's net zero transition. Students were introduced to concepts including: low-carbon building methods, modern methods of construction (MMC), energy performance ratings, and the growing demand for green skills in the Welsh construction workforce. 6 of 28 students identified green construction as something they hadn't considered before and would now explore. Lliw, Owl Impact's inclusion and green skills thread, ran through the session delivery and materials.
Student Feedback — Post-Session Survey
"
I didn't know construction could be a tech job. The bit about using drones and 3D models on sites was actually sick. I'd consider it now.
Year 10 student · Male · Pre-session: no career in mind
"
It was good to hear from someone who actually works in it, not just a teacher reading from a PowerPoint. Rhys was really honest about how he got where he is.
Year 10 student · Female · Pre-session: interested in engineering
"
I didn't realise there were so many different jobs in construction. I thought it was just bricklaying. Now I want to find out more about project management.
Year 10 student · Female · Pre-session: undecided
Survey Summary — 24 of 28 students responded
86%
Said session was useful or very useful
71%
Learned something new about the construction sector
54%
Would now consider a career in construction
96%
Would recommend this type of session to other schools
Employer Statement
"We talk about the skills gap but the gap starts in the classroom. Schools don't have industry insiders — we do. This took three hours of my time and reached twenty-eight young people who might otherwise have never considered what we do. I'd call that a good morning's work. We'll be back."
Rhys Davies
Site Manager · Maenan Build & Civil Ltd · Flintshire
Maenan Build & Civil Ltd
Construction · North Wales
What Happens Next
Planned Activity — Maenan Build & Civil Ltd & Ysgol Cwm Aled
-
📅
Site visit — July 2026
Up to 8 Year 10 students with a strong interest in construction to visit Maenan's Flintshire project. Gatsby Benchmark 6 delivery. DBS checks confirmed.
-
📋
Collapse Week pilot — employer panel
Maenan Build & Civil invited to participate as an employer panel member in the Owl Build Collapse Week pilot, planned for a North Wales school in autumn 2026.
-
🏆
Social value report — annual summary
At the end of the academic year, Maenan will receive a full annual social value summary across all sessions, usable in tender submissions, social value reporting, and CSR documentation.
-
🎓
Apprenticeship referrals
3 students who expressed strong interest will be connected with Maenan's apprenticeship contact via the school's careers lead. Owl Impact will track outcomes.