Apprentices deliver interactive STEM experience for 60 students
Apprentices led a hands-on STEM day for 60+ students from South West Durham schools, delivering workshops in engineering, renewables, CAD and VR welding.
Apprentices took the lead in delivering a hands-on STEM activities day involving more than 60 students from three South West Durham secondary schools.
Organised by the North East STEM Foundation (NESF) in partnership with South West Durham Training (SWDT), part of the Bishop Auckland College Group, it brought together apprentices from GSK, Cummins, Solartron ISA, Aureos and Cawingredients.
Supported by their SWDT lecturers, they not only led the activities but spent time speaking with the Year 9-11 students from King James Academy, St John’s School and Sixth Form College in Bishop Auckland, and Whitworth Park Academy in Spennymoor about their own experiences of training and work.
The approach was designed to help build their confidence, leadership and communication skills, while giving the students a chance to hear directly from young people already progressing in engineering, science and technical fields.
Hosted at SWDT’s training centre at Aycliffe Business Park, the workshops covered pneumatics and hydraulics, virtual reality welding, CAD, risk assessment, plumbing buoyancy challenges and wind turbine design.
Harry Munsey, 18, an apprentice at GSK, worked with Cummins apprentice Matthew Miller, 19, and SWDT mechanical engineering lecturer Keith Shepherd to deliver the pneumatics and hydraulics workshop, where students were asked to interpret engineering diagrams and assemble five circuit systems.
Harry said: “It’s been a brilliant experience as an apprentice. We use pneumatics in our own training but explaining it to others has helped strengthen my own understanding. The students were really engaged and picked up the concepts quickly.”
Matthew added: “I found the whole experience rewarding. The students asked great questions, and you could see their confidence grow.”
GSK apprentice Isabelle Wakefield-Potter, 18, supported the wind turbine activity, helping students design plastic blades before testing them in a wind tunnel to measure the generated energy.
She said: “It’s been great talking to the students about apprenticeships. One told me they’d love a career in renewable energy. Opportunities like this can really lead to something.”
Riley Harris, 13, from St John’s Catholic School and Sixth Form College, said: “I’d like to be a mechanic, so getting to try different skills has shown me how many things link to what I want to do.”
Olivia Lewis, 13, from Whitworth Park Academy, added: “I’ve always been interested in STEM, but this has given me a wider outlook on future careers. Seeing the apprentices helps you picture what’s possible.”
NESF runs STEM days for several hundred primary and secondary school pupils across the North East every year. Its Chair, Tania Cooper MBE, said: “This is exactly the kind of real-world engagement we aim to drive, helping young people explore career pathways, develop practical skills and feel inspired by relatable role models.
The apprentices did an outstanding job, and their enthusiasm is a great reminder of why STEM education matters.”
Jonathan Hall, Executive Director of SWDT, said: “We are incredibly proud of how our apprentices stepped up to lead this event. Giving them the opportunity to teach and mentor not only builds their confidence, leadership and communication skills, but also allows the visiting students to see first-hand what a successful career in STEM looks like.
“Events like this, in partnership with the North East STEM Foundation, are vital for inspiring the engineers and technical experts of the future.”
----
NEWS RELEASE: ISSUED ON BEHALF OF THE NORTH EAST STEM FOUNDATION For further information contact Andrew Douglas on 01325 363436
Photo captions:
Main Photo:
(IMAGE 1): Apprentices Harry Munsey (left) and Matthew Miller deliver a virtual reality welding workshop
(IMAGE 2) A student tries out VR welding
(IMAGE 3) Students take part in a buoyancy workshop
Editors’ Notes: NESF: The North East STEM Foundation’s aim is to ensure every young person, regardless of background, has an opportunity to study STEM subjects in a high-quality, modern environment supported by employers, futureproofing both industry and the local economy by delivering highly skilled, innovative workers.
The charity does this by inspiring and attracting future generations into the sector via STEM outreach programmes, removing financial barriers to allow all children to access STEM education and by creating more high-quality STEM focused environments at key stage 3, 4 and 5.
https://www.nesf.org.uk/
