UTC South Durham’s Technical Level Engineering Foundation course continues to deliver excellent results for its students with over 89% of the cohort achieving distinctions or higher. In addition with 100% pass rate of students passing their A Level exams.
Due to the success of the qualification many UTC students are going onto secure outstanding destinations for their future. Miles Sanders, a UTC South Durham 6th Form student has already started a Level 4 Apprenticeship with Bechtel one of the most respected global engineering, construction, and project management companies in the country. The first project that Miles will be working on is High Speed Rail 2. The apprenticeship is for an Associate Project Manager role and will see him not only applying his engineering knowledge but also learning about managing a large scale project. Miles secured the apprenticeship after competing against hundreds of other applicants who had all applied for the opportunity.
Toby Hansom, an A Level student had huge ambitions to work for GSK and out of a gruelling application process has now secured himself a Level 3 Apprenticeship in Mechanical Engineering. Toby said, ‘When I applied to attend the UTC I knew that one of their partners was GSK. I have had many opportunities to work with them on a wide variety of projects to really get to know the company. From these experiences I knew that that was the place I wanted to work’.
Shannon Vincent, another A Level student has secured herself an apprenticeship in Fork Truck Maintenance at Linde. Shannon said, ‘achieving an apprenticeship was a huge achievement in an area where lots of other young people are applying for opportunities. I couldn’t be more pleased with my success. The UTC helped me line this opportunity up and ensured that I was prepared for the world of work’.
The other course that UTC South Durham delivers at Year 12 is a one year Level 2 Performing Engineering Operations course in Engineering Practices and Welding and Fabrication. 100% of this cohort have been successful in finding an apprenticeship or are coming back to the UTC to continue their studies. This course provides students the opportunity to develop many technical skills that employers are looking for. All of the students who have been successful with their exam results will also be considered for the Duke of York Technical Certificate which will be presented to them at St James Palace, London in September.
If GCSE students are still deciding upon their next steps then there are still a few places remaining at the 6th Form. The UTC 6th Form is going from strength to strength and quickly becoming the place for employers to seek out their next employee with many local employers coming directly to the UTC.
UTC South Durham is based in Aycliffe Business Park and opened in September 2016 founded by regional employers, Hitachi Rail EU and Gestamp Tallent in collaboration with University of Sunderland.
Applications for year 10 and year 12 studies for a specialist engineering and technical education at UTC are currently open, and booking for the next open evening is available on the UTC South Durham website: www.utcsouthdurham.org. For additional information call 01325 430 250.