As part of the Apprenticeship Awareness programme at Woodham Academy, pupils and staff have spent a half day in one of the six Aycliffe based companies participating in the challenge in order to gain insights into how some the region’s biggest, brightest and best employers are facing up to the challenges of a tough economic climate; and to see for themselves what opportunities are available for school leavers in an area traditionally renowned for its manufacturing skills and innovation.
Company representatives, including current apprentices, very much impressed the school group with their knowledge, enthusiasm and confidence. Indeed, as one –animated-apprentice, Jade Williams, informed her audience, she regularly ‘swaggers’ to work: knowing, as she does, she is ensuring a bright future not only for herself, but for the region to which she belongs. The pride the young apprentices felt in their own achievements and in those of their chosen industry were obvious to all. Pauline Hadwin, HR Manager at Finley Structures said “It’s good to involve schools in order to provide an understanding of working life practices and the opportunties that are available within the local area”
The visits form part of that which Head of Year, Vikki Fawcett, calls the school’s continuing commitment to a ’wider school experience.’
“In order to provide a valuable alternative to college and university,” says Mrs Fawcett, “we need to be taking learning out of the class room and into the real world.”
It was time, she added, that students like hers began looking at what options were available, and thinking about where the necessities of life, on which they rely, really come from.
The school students will now spend the next weeks and months preparing for a presentation which will be given to luminaries from their school, the council and the local business community. For some it could mark the beginning of a long and rewarding learning journey.
