On Thursday 12th November, Mrs. Aitcheson and ourselves took part in a ‘topping out’ ceremony for the new school build.
A topping out ceremony is a celebration of when the last, or very top piece of a structure, is placed.
Over the past month the steel structure has grown rapidly and now allows us to envisage what the final construction work look like. Our topping out ceremony consisted of the Project Manager and an engineer for Interserve giving us a tour of the site, explaining where new classrooms will be located and how they will look.
Before we got onto the site however, we were kitted out with PPE including construction boots, helmets and high-vis jackets.
During our tour, we were led to a steel beam ready to be signed by all of us. Abbie went first, and signed with her name, role and a message for good luck. Rhea went second, also including her name and a message reading ‘Class of 2021-22’. Mrs. Aitcheson then signed with her name, role and the year – followed by the site manager Neil and engineer Andrew. This beam will be the final piece of the steel skeleton to be placed before they begin on making the building watertight for winter and will be there forever.
A topping out ceremony is usually much larger than just 5 people; in a normal world there would have been governors, directors, more members of the senior leadership team and a few more students. This shows how monumental this occasion was for the progress of the new build. But unfortunately, due to COVID regulations and social distancing this was not possible – though the occasion was still just as important, and we feel privileged to have been invited.
We would like to thank Mrs. Aitcheson for giving us this opportunity, and Neil and Andrew for hosting the tour. The final piece is due to go up week commencing 23rd November and we cannot wait to see how the project develops into the new year.
Abbie (Head Girl) & Rhea (Deputy Head Girl)