CONSTRUCTION students from Barnsley College were given the opportunity to visit a working construction site.

Students in their final year studying construction in the building environment were invited to take a tour of the Miller Homes site, Honeywell Grange.

The site has 80 plots with three to four bedroom houses that are nearly completed.

“We found that students left the college and weren’t work ready,” said Matthew Upton, work placement co-ordinator at Barnsley College.

“So we’ve been engaging with companies to get work experience for the students.

“On the tour, the students will be given an insight into what the working world is like, to give them an idea of what needs to be done to get into certain positions on site and what takes place day-to-day on the site.”

Site manager, Nick Arnold, said: “There’s only so much you can learn from a classroom environment so this chance for the students to see what an active site is like is invaluable.

“I think it’s important for people to learn a trade because there will never be a shortage of work and the industry needs more people to come through and apprentices are key.”

The influx of students visiting their sites caused Miller Homes to reopen its apprenticeship programme, allowing them to train - and potentially -employ skilled workers from the college.