Serving the Teesside Business Community | 29
Delight: PD Ports’ Kirsten Donkin with teacher Jo Brown
and pupils in Hartburn Primary’s new outside reading area.
READ ALL ABOUT IT!
H
known about Emily and she wouldn’t have known
about PD Ports. The Academy is all about tackling
the fact that too many people aren’t aware of the
range of opportunities within the sector.
“Emily was always a high-flyer in terms of her
work ethic and academic performance but it’s fair
to say she didn’t know much about what logistics
was all about until being introduced to the sector
via her work visits.
“That started a process of
“There’s so much
transforming her future from
architecture via university
knowledge here and so
to civil engineering via an
much to learn, while I’ll
apprenticeship with PD Ports.”
Other recent success stories continue my studies on
from the Tees Valley Logistics
day release.”
Academy include Michael
Chapman, who has started a
level 2 warehouse and storage apprenticeship
with PD Ports, another who has gone into a local
logistics firm and a fourth who is now studying
logistics full-time at university.
Along with its Career Ready programme for 16
to 18 year-olds, the Logistics Academy also runs a
programme for the unemployed aged 19-plus and is
now working with secondary schools to introduce
logistics to those aged 14 to 16.
For more details about the Tees Valley Logistics Academy
visit www.stockton.ac.uk/tvla/
artburn Primary School’s outdoor reading area – made
possible via a donation from PD Ports – has been
hailed a "fantastic success” after having a positive
effect on literacy levels among its youngest pupils.
Around 300 of the Stockton school’s nursery, reception
and Key Stage 1 pupils under the age of seven have had
access to a newly resourced outdoor reading area for the
past year.
The £5,000 green oasis, which allows youngsters to
read while outdoors, features artificial grass and an array of
wigwams, tables, chairs and canopies.
It was paid for through fundraising and a £1,500 donation
from PD Ports’ Find It Fund It scheme.
The school’s English lead Jo Brown says the reading area
is widely used and is already having a big impact on how
often children are sharing and reading books.
“The benefits of reading go far beyond educational
outcomes,” she said.
“Children who are more easily distracted or that struggle
to settle and concentrate within the confines of the
classroom feel more at ease and better able to focus on
the book if they are allowed the opportunity to experience
reading outside in the open.
“The children really enjoy using the reading area and can
get fully immersed in a book in the outdoor environment.
“We are delighted with this year’s results, but also with
the love for reading that has developed through creating this
fantastic area.
“We are really grateful to PD Ports for their kind
donation.”
PD Ports’ head of PR, marketing and communications
Kirsten Donkin’s two young sons attend Hartburn Primary.
And her employers were happy to provide financial help
towards the school’s outdoor reading area through their
Find It Fund It scheme, which supports community projects
throughout the UK.
“Our donation to Hartburn Primary is a valuable way to
help the school and its youngest children throughout their
vital early years’ development, and recognises the needs of
education,” said Kirsten.
“I think the school has a real aspiration to go above and
beyond their means to give Hartburn Primary School a really
unique, exciting and engaging learning experience.
“It’s a collaboration to help make those improvements
that schools don’t necessarily have through their own
budget.
“Our Find It Fund It scheme at PD Ports makes me
immensely proud to be part of a business that cares about
our area - not just profit, loss and hard numbers,” she added.
By the end of 2018, PD Ports will have pledged around
£100,000 to local community projects.