by Duncan Newman, Economic Development Officer
Locally, the engineering sector is thriving; however, as we have reported before, there is a significant shortage of young people choosing engineering as a career.
We’re always happy to support schools in informing students on career opportunities in engineering locally, so when Ferndown Upper School suggested a new approach to highlighting engineering to their Year 11 students we got involved!
The idea was to invite a group of employers in advanced engineering to speak to students during a school assembly, prior to the school’s main careers event which took place a couple of weeks later.
We were delighted when four of the businesses we approached on behalf of the school offered to deliver presentations on their businesses and their Apprenticeship and Graduate schemes. Providing this dedicated time enabled the students to learn more about the businesses and the diverse selection of careers on offer in engineering and gave them the opportunity to research the businesses before meeting with the employers again at the main careers event, should they be interested in finding out more about an particular employer. It was also intended that the event would assist students in becoming more focused on the employers they wanted to speak to during the main careers event, whether in engineering or another industry sector.
Kimi Bothamley, Head of Physics and STEM Lead at Ferndown Upper School said, “We were delighted to receive Duncan’s support in delivering this event and were very grateful to the businesses that gave their time to speak to our students.
The assembly gave students an insight into local career opportunities in the advanced engineering sector. It also helped to encourage our students to think more about their career paths across all sectors and the employers they would want to meet during the school’s careers event.”
Sue Racster, HR Manager at Ultra Electronics said, “Ultra Electronics was very pleased to be invited along to present to students at Ferndown Upper School. Although we are an international business, we value our local workforce and are committed to supporting the development of our community.
Presenting at the school assembly enabled us to introduce Ultra Electronics to a whole year group of students prior to the main school careers event. We welcomed the chance to inform them of the local career opportunities we have at Ultra Electronics and the wealth of jobs available in the wider STEM industry.”
Kyle Davis who represented Ultra Electronics and presented to the students at the assembly said, “Having progressed through a 4 Year Apprenticeship Programme at Ultra Electronics, I was very pleased to be invited to speak to students at Ferndown Upper School about my experience as an Apprentice. It’s important to let them know how my hobbies, interests and studies have helped to start my career in engineering.”
We were delighted to support the event, bringing together a local school and employers to tackle the skills shortage of such important sector in Christchurch and East Dorset.
Our thanks to Gerry Bishop, Emerging Talent Manager, Cobham PLC; Georgia Foster-Symes and Kyle Davis, Ultra Electronics; Mark Bentley, Curtiss-Wright and Jon Ginda and Jo Gregory, Aeroflex Hose and Engineering. We are also grateful for the support of Peter Burden, KDC Group and Chair of the Technical Skills Development Group.