Eastbrook’s Year 1 pupils were treated to an extraordinary visit today from Eliot and Josh from ModuleCo Healthcare Construction Company. Eliot and Josh came to talk to Year 1 all about an important and fascinating new facility opening in our local area, Barking Community Diagnostic Centre in Upney Lane. Eliot and Josh explained how their factory based in Gloucestershire build medical buildings in a different and innovative way. Rather than being built on site, the huge blocks (taller than a giraffe, longer than a whale and heavier than six elephants) are built in the factory and then transported to where they are needed on gigantic lorries with lots of wheels. That’s exactly how the brand new Barking Diagnostic Centre was created.

Next, Eliot and Josh helped our Year 1 learners understand just how important it is for construction workers to be safe when they are on site. Year 1 pupils thoroughly enjoyed choosing the correct clothing and equipment for Josh to wear so that he was clearly visible and protected on site. They made sure that he had his protective helmet, fluorescent hi-vis jacket, hard capped boots and gloves to grip tools really well. Next, Eliot and Josh set Year 1 a challenge- to design their own brightly coloured, protective construction uniform. The stakes were high. It was a competition and the winner of the most creative construction uniform was going to receive a prize!

Whilst Josh explored everybody’s colourful entries, Eliot captivated Year 1 pupils with a wonderful story called ‘Riley goes to hospital’. The book tells the tale of a child’s journey through the hospital and all of the wonderful healthcare workers that they will encounter, such as Rosie the Radiologist, Millie the Matron and Phoebe the Pharmacist. We all definitely developed our understanding of just how many people help to look after us when we are sick or injured. Mrs Turner also noticed that the author’s name on the front cover of the book looked very familiar, ‘Eliot Langfield’. Eliot who was standing in our classroom was also a published and famous author. Amazing!

And then the results were in…and the good news was that ALL of the entries were so fabulous that everybody had won a prize. Each child has brought home their very own copy of this rhyming and informative story to enjoy time and time again.

This afternoon in our history lesson about significant individuals, Keanu said, ” I now think that Josh is a significant individual because he helps to build new hospitals with clever machines inside.” We couldn’t agree more, Keanu!