A group of EDF Maintenance Engineering Apprentices from the National College for Nuclear (NCfN) recently travelled to the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton, Somerset. They participated in an Aircraft Maintenance Programme, which is holistically blended with the Condition Monitoring Maintenance unit on their BTEC Diploma.
They attended for a total of 6 days across three weeks, in which time they identified the aircraft maintenance needs for various scenarios, which were created by museum staff.
The apprentices were divided into groups; each allocated a different component to research and required to compose a presentation on their subject. This ranged from avionics to weapons systems.
All their efforts culminated on week four when they executed their presentations on a stage located beneath Concorde in the museum’s main hangar. The audience consisted of fellow apprentices, a large group of EDF personnel, college staff, and various members of the museum workforce.
This is the third time this event has occurred and once again was a huge success! Museum, EDF and BTC staff praising the apprentices for all the effort they had put in over their time at Fleet Air Arm.
All parties hope to continue this relationship and are already in the early stages of planning next years’ project.
Dominic Blythe, EDF Early Careers Group Head said:
From an Early Careers perspective, we are so happy and proud of our year two MOET apprentices for their professionalism, confidence and maturity at our special Air Arm Museum presentation event. The content and delivery of the presentations were fantastic with all the apprentices making key similarities between the aviation and nuclear industry. The discussions on personal accountability, maintenance standards and safety were exactly what we want for our people pipelines. We are looking forward to what the future holds for these talented young individuals.
Andy Berry, Principal and CEO of Bridgwater & Taunton College commented:
It was fantastic to see the EDF apprentices working so well together to understand and resolve complex challenges within a context that is outside of their normal working environment. I would also like to thank the team at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, colleagues from EDF and of course the exceptional staff team from the College who went above and beyond to pull together such an exciting project.
Owen Coopland, EDF Apprentice spoke of his time on the project:
The time we spent at the Fleet Air Arm Museum was an invaluable opportunity to learn and grow. Learning about the similarities between the aviation industry and the nuclear industry was fascinating, from safety aspects to learning about the importance of Procedural Use and Adherence. The volunteers in the museum had an expansive wealth of knowledge and experience which they shared with us, this allowed us all to compile it together into a presentation to give to our managers across Fleet. Hearing feedback from the managers, they explained that they were all once where we are and this was just the start of our careers, it could take us anywhere.
Abbie Short, EDF Apprentice also made comment:
During our time at RNAS Yeovilton, we completed various scenarios about the Sea King helicopter in groups which allowed us to work with the volunteers, gain a wide range of knowledge and improve our teamwork skills. We were also able to relate the avionics industry to the nuclear industry and see how they differ. Doing the presentation in front of managers from both EDF and college helped us gain confidence in public speaking and gave us higher aspirations for our future careers. Yeovilton was an enjoyable and invaluable experience and the knowledge I gained about condition monitoring I will take with me when I go back to site.
BTC provides over 100 different apprenticeship courses at sites across the country, including degree-level Apprenticeships. For more information about these and other courses, please visit the Apprenticeships page, call 01247 441234 or come along to one of our information events.
