At St Philip’s, we are currently fundraising for a new mechanics facility to enable our young people to learn vehicle mechanics and car restoration.
Car mechanics is very popular at our school and a number of former students have gone on to follow a career in the motor mechanics industry. Recently, a group of our students proposed the idea of a better facility for mechanics to the school council who supported the idea.
There is currently no dedicated teaching space in our school for mechanics. Up until July 2022, St Philip’s partnered successfully with a local social enterprise, Community Motors, which delivered training in motor vehicle mechanics to our students at their site. The organisation formed in 2014 to enable disadvantaged young people to gain experience and accredited training in motor vehicle mechanics, alongside technicians, many of whom had overcome their own struggles growing up.
Sadly, Community Motors was forced to close in July 2022 due to financial pressures caused by the pandemic. The organisation donated some of its vehicle maintenance equipment to our school, and their former training manager began teaching a limited course to our students on our site, sharing our bicycle maintenance space. This area however, is a small garage and much of the equipment we were given, such as a mechanical lift, tyre changer and work benches cannot be used due to lack of space.
We are seeking £7,400 to install a new classroom space on our site comprising a converted shipping container and hardstanding. This new space will accommodate all of our equipment as well as additional resources. It will facilitate a much improved mechanics offer, enabling us to deliver a greater range of training to an increased number of students.
This project will help to raise students’ employment aspirations, giving them new skills and confidence to pursue mechanics as a career.
We welcome donations from individuals, companies and charitable trusts towards this project. Please contact Jessica Zubaidi at jzubaidi@ohcat.org if you would like to support us.
