By Duncan Newman, Economic Development Officer
This month The Grange School welcomed the first group of students studying BTEC level 3 in Engineering and Manufacturing.
This is the first year the school has delivered the course and offers students the option to remain at school and study this subject area at a higher level.
The course includes work placement opportunities and site visits to local employer in the Engineering and Manufacturing sector.
The first visit to Curtiss-Wright took place this week. Curtiss-Wright traces its history back to the famous Wright brothers and specialises in making bespoke components for the aerospace industry as well as a wealth of other engineering products for other markets.
The students were welcomed by Bruno Smith, HR Director, Karen Moss, HR Manager and Lisette Bugsel, Internal Recruitment Resourcer.
The visit began with a presentation on the history of the company and an overview of the products and services they currently provide to businesses around the world. Students were then given a tour of the factory floor and enjoyed a lunch where they met Curtiss-Wright Apprentices.
Rob Palmer, Deputy Headteacher said, ““Being able to work with businesses like Curtiss-Wright really helps to show the students exactly what they are working towards. We are able to give students projects based around real organisations and the context of the site visits means that the teaching really comes alive for the students”
Bruno Smith, Curtiss-Wright said, “We think that working with our local schools is an ideal way to showcase the world leading technology we carry out at Curtiss-Wright. We have a long history of investing in apprenticeships and this is a great way to source talent direct from local schools”
One BTEC Level 3 student said, “I am really pleased to be amongst the first group of people studying this BTEC Level 3 and it’s been really inspiring being able to spend some time seeing a live engineering environment and talking to existing apprentices and engineers”.
We’re delighted to see schools and businesses working together and developing relationships which support students in furthering their education and training and assists in resolving the skills shortage in such a significant sector locally.