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Your Council supporting learning for you and your family
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Careers not jobs
How the study of engineering is changing the lives of underachieving pupils in Hull and helping them find well-paid careers
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A born engineer: Dominique Avery (17) is studying at Hull TEC engineering college |
In Year 9 she couldn't see the point of school.
"I had nothing to aim for and I was getting into trouble," says Dominique Avery.
"I couldn't see the point of doing maths and learning stuff like Romeo and Juliet, which I thought I was never going to need in my everyday life."
Dominique's attitude changed, however, when she began an apprenticeship at local engineering college Hull TEC.
Engineering opened up a whole new world.
Not only did she discover that she was good at making things from metal and working with machinery, but she began to realise the importance of studying maths.
She also realised that engineering was the career she wanted for the rest of her life.
"Going to Hull TEC made me understand what the world of work would be like after school," says Dominique, who attended the college one afternoon per week while in years 10 and 11 at Andrew Marvell school.
"It made me realise how important it was to get my GCSEs, and helped me focus.
"If I hadn't have gone there I don't think I would have even sat my GCSEs.
I don't know what I would have done." Dominique ended up with a grade C in maths, and yes, she even stuck with Shakespeare and achieved a grade C in English too.
Now 17, she has a permanent job as a trainee engineer at Deans Systems Ltd, in Beverley, a company that makes automated bus doors.
She still attends Hull TEC one day per week, where she is studying in the second of a four-year advanced apprenticeship in engineering.
"She's a born natural engineer," says production manager at Deans Systems, Sonny Hirst.
"She's doing some really complicated stuff like pneumatics, electronics, fitting and wiring, and she's even teaching other workers how to do it."
The world of work
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Mechanical tutor Jon Tomlinson with Dominique and fellow students |
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Work placement coordinators Tom Wilkinson and Cheryl Sedgwick |
Dominique is just one of thousands of pupils over the years who have found success through Hull TEC.
It has two sites: the Hull Skills Academy on Northumberland Avenue, for ages 14 to 16, and the Orchard Park campus, on Dane Park Road, for post-secondary school students, where advanced engineering up to the Higher Professional Diploma (HPD) is taught.
"At both sites we try to make the environment as close as possible to the world of work," says George Machin, workplace development team leader.
"Many learners don't like the academic stuff at school, but they appreciate it a lot more as soon as they can relate it to real life.
"They might not be prepared to work out the areas and diameters of circles in maths lessons at school – but as soon as they realise they need to cut out a precise shape from a sheet of metal, they start to see the benefits of using geometry.
"We've developed a lot of students who were underachieving at school into people with exciting careers and good salaries.
It's about giving people careers, not just jobs."
Meeting demand
Part of its success in finding careers for students is down to Hull TEC offering courses employers ask for – so that individual pupils leave with a range of different skills, including electronics, maintenance, fitting, welding and information technology.
The success is also down to work placement coordinators Tom Wilkinson and Cheryl Sedgwick, who between them have a good knowledge of local engineering companies and can match apprentices with them accordingly.
With Hull being a thriving port, many apprenticeships have a nautical theme.
They can entail anything from setting up satellite systems on luxury yachts, to welding at the bottom of a ship while standing knee deep in water, to maintaining gas turbines on oil rigs, or maintaining air conditioning systems on the North Sea ferries.
Of course, many such apprenticeships lead to permanent employment within the industry.
Celebrating success
As this issue of Hull in print went to press, more than 450 pupils, parents, tutors and representatives from companies who offer apprenticeships were getting ready to attend the annual Hull TEC awards ceremony at the Guildhall.
The Lord Mayor of Hull, Cllr Elaine Garland, was set to present a range of awards including the coveted Apprentice of the Year award.
Do the diploma
From next September, the Hull TEC Skills Academy will be offering an engineering diploma to secondary school pupils across Hull as an alternative to doing GCSEs.
The diploma will be equivalent to up to seven A* to C grades, and will require pupils to study away from school at the academy for one-and-a-half days a week.
Pupils will still be required to study key subjects such as English, maths, science and PE when at school.
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