An innovative scheme backed by Heysham power stations to help youngsters land prestigious engineering apprenticeships is being trialled at Lancaster and Morecambe College.
The new access to engineering course starts at the college in September and is partnership between EDF Energy and the college.
Two other schemes will be running at colleges in Bridgwater and Gloucester and if they prove successful the courses could become part of the colleges’ regular curriculum.
Kevin Demain, the stations’ apprentice training and recruitment co-ordinator said: “During the recent recruitment round for our own apprenticeship scheme we received 360 applications for 13 roles so there is a demand.
“This pilot scheme will give youngsters who may be very good technicians but perhaps don’t have the right academic qualifications a chance to get the qualifications they need to apply for an apprenticeship via a different but recognised route.
“And then they can apply to EDF Energy and any other firm which has an engineering apprentice scheme.”
The year-long course will take on 18 people, and give them a grounding in engineering, boost their maths and English skills but also, with support from Heysham power stations’ own team, offer them help with job applications and interview skills.
They will be taken to see the EDF Energy apprentice training facility at HMS Sultan, in Portsmouth, and get to meet senior managers from the stations who will be giving guest lecturers during the year
David Wood, Principal and Chief Executive of Lancaster & Morecambe College, which is already training 2000 apprentices, said: “We are delighted to be working with EDF Energy on this innovative employer-led programme.
“As a college we are constantly developing our offer to respond to the local job market; engineering is a growing sector locally and we are supporting young people from the area to access these new jobs.
“Working closely with employers such as EDF Energy means that the courses we develop are led by the industry and increase our students’ chance in a challenging job market.
“This new course is all about getting young people into work and supporting the local economy.”
• For more info visit: www.lmc.ac.uk/home or call 0800306 306
I am disappointed that nowhere in this article is it mentioned that Heysham power stations are nuclear or that EDF is proposing to build several new nuclear power stations around the country – something which is causing great deal of controversy. It seems that Virtual Lancaster is colluding with EDF’s attempts to brand itself an uncontroversial company.
virtual-lancaster has run many articles raising about concerns over nuclear power. If you need proof, just look at the "related posts" at the bottom of the story.
Bearing in mind this is a local community web site I doubt there's many people who don't know Heysham is nuclear.
We have three possible courses of action with such local news items when they come in. We can bin them, run them as they are, or edit them, possibly merging them with other related contextual items. The latter is preferred for more rounded content but it takes time and research and we're short-handed.
The corporate world has an army of people employed at the consumers' expence to knock out press releases all day. Getting people with alternative views or proposals to write pieces for the press unpaid and untrained in whatever spare time they have is very difficult, as Stuart, as editor of the newsletter of the Scientists for Global Responsibility, will probably know. The structure of many informal campaigning groups mitigates against the regular production of public communication, Which may also be subjected to contextual editing before publication. So, mediawise, they tend to be more often left with occasional reactive sniping at other people's agendas rather than promoting their own.
It frequently amazes me that many groups can work out and execute complex and difficult plans to undertake some action or contribute to some lengthy legal process but have little interest in or strategy for ensuring that their reasons for doing so are widely and accurately disseminated, even in the certain knowledge that their opponants will immediately step in to fill this vaccuum with negative briefing. An action may be seen by 200 people, most of whom may be there to obstruct it. A report sent to a press list may be seen by 200,000 and remain in the public record, so the event is not lost and forgotten but keeps its place in the overall 'context'.
We don't have the resources to embed a reporter with every issue group to publicise their activities and ideas. It's not likely they'd be generally welcome anyway. We do encourage people to speak for themselves and we're always here with more free encouragement and advice if anyone wants it.