Meadows School Pupils Shine As They Try Making Chilstone Garden Ornaments

Monday, June 10 , 2024

Meadows School Pupils Shine As They Try Making Chilstone Garden Ornaments

Our staff at Chilstone were pleased to be invited to speak to the pupils at Meadows School in Tunbridge Wells, offering advice about work experience. This school is run by Barnardo’s, supporting children with additional needs, helping them to pursue new experiences to gain independence and opportunities for personal development.

Opportunity for Work Experience

We were given a warm welcome at the school and many pupils showed an interest in what we do at Chilstone. The young people in the upper school and sixth form were offered the opportunity to email our General Manager with a professional style letter to introduce themselves and their interests to gain work experience in our workshop at Chilstone. Our staff were impressed by the response.

Three pupils were chosen to visit Chilstone, roll up their sleeves and get making, Cameron, Zack and Jason.

School student making cast stone.

The students were enthusiastic and happy to get started in our workshop

Our workshop manager showed the pupils how things run at Chilstone and with the help of our skilled stonemasons, Cameron age fifteen, Zack age sixteen and Jason, also sixteen, got stuck in, each making a section of a garden sundial.

A Good Work Ethic

The boys worked diligently. Our staff were impressed with their attitude and application. The Meadows School pupils followed the lessons from our skilled craftsmen so well that they produced a quality sundial. It takes time to produce cast stone to a high standard, so we were surprised by how well the boys did. They paid attention and asked questions, taking great care to make their own section of the garden ornament.

School student gaining work experience in the Chilstone workshop

Each of the students had a section of the garden ornament to work on.  

We were so impressed with the quality of their work that we had the sundial plinth engraved with the pupils’ names and gifted it to Meadows School as a lasting reminder of their experience at Chilstone. Cameron, Zack and Jason were also given letters of recommendation to help them find future work and work experience.

The boys worked diligently and they produced a quality sundial, which is very difficult to do without experience. Our workshop manager was very impressed.

A Gift for the School

The boys were surprised to see their sundial presented to them at school. It will be situated in the grounds for all the pupils to see. There were many young people keen to hear about their experience and to see the finished sundial produced by Cameron, Zack and Jason. The young people seemed so proud of their achievement.

Chilstone’s on-site engraver added the names of the students to the sundial as a permanent reminder of the boys’ hard work as a gift for the school

Our staff enjoyed working with Meadows School and their pupils. Well done to these young people. It was a pleasure to see them flourish in our workshop. The real sense of pride in their work was clear when we unveiled the sundial in front of their classmates at school. We wish them best of luck with their future employment journey! Thank you to the staff and Headteacher, Ed Reilly, who made our Chilstone team so welcome.

Our Workshop Manager, presented the students with the sundial they made.

Our Workshop Manager, presented the students with the sundial they made, at their school.

Seventy Years Handcrafting Stone

Our skilled stone masons have been handcrafting stone for over seventy years. We make a wide range of garden ornaments, architectural stone and bespoke projects. Come and see our grounds, be inspired and talk to our team about your home and garden projects.

Chilstone products being hand made in our workshop.

All our products are handmade by master crafts people.



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