A Weston College student has been selected for Wessex Water’s Young People’s panel, an enterprise which gives 16-18 year olds the opportunity to experience running a business.

Chris Hutchings, 17, who studies A Level Business Studies, Photography and English at Weston College’s Sixth Form Centre, has been attending meetings at Wessex Water as part of an initiative which enables young people to have a say in how the company is run.

Chris said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for me to benefit from hands on work which will supplement the theory I’ve learnt in class.

“So far it has been an excellent insight into businesses’ decision making processes, and will be good experience when I apply to university.”

At their first meeting last month, the panel met managers at the company and were taken on a tour of the company’s headquarters in Bath.

At the end of the day, the panel was set the task of creating a presentation about ideas to promote the company’s installation of water metres and improve its customer services.

Chris said: “My presentation will be about the creation of a mobile app that would allow people to monitor their water metre readings and automatically budget their water usage for them, to make sure they are saving money and aren’t wasting water.”

Claire Timmins, Business Studies Tutor at the College, said: “Weston College is all about providing students with the skills and experience they need to progress to work or university.

“This opportunity at Wessex Water is another example of or students benefitting from our strong links with employers across the South West.

“I am confident Chris will prove a credit to himself and the College during this placement.”

Weston College is working with GKN Aerospace in Filton to develop a new course which prepares young people to become work ready.

The free course, titled ‘Movement into Work’, is a traineeship which lasts 10 weeks and is aimed at people between the ages of 16 and 24 who are (or are at risk of becoming) unemployed and not in education.

It includes a mix of on-the-job work experience in the GKN engineering workshops and employability skills development, and will help young people to gain the skills they need to progress onto an apprenticeship, further training, and the workplace, particularly in the Engineering industry.

The trainees will be based at the GKN Filton site for the full ten week programme, attending five days a week, with training provided by both GKN staff and Weston College tutors.

Gary Durant, Weston College’s Traineeship Coordinator, said: “This traineeship is a fantastic opportunity which could unlock career and apprenticeship opportunities for many young people.

“GKN has always traditionally recruited the highest performing young people onto its Weston College-delivered apprenticeships, and these traineeships will allow them to diversify their intake as well as providing young people with training and experience that will improve their chances of employment.”

The traineeship starts on the 15th of May 2017. If you would like to find out more, contact Weston College’s Business Enterprise Centre by calling 01934 411 594 or emailing apprenticeships@weston.ac.uk.

Weston College is a quarter of the way through its ambitious 200 in 100 campaign, which seeks to promote apprenticeships to both businesses and potential apprentices.

After just 25 days the College has managed to attract 72 pledges meaning that it is well on track to achieve its target of 200 apprenticeship pledges in just 100 days. Among the businesses who have pledged are Alliance Homes Group, Restor8, Thatchers, Sidcot School and the NHS.

Another company who has pledged to take on apprentices is SACO, which has hired two Team Leading Level 3 apprentices.

Di Gwinnel, HR Business Partner for SACO said: “It is exciting to get involved with the 200 in 100 campaign and show our support for developing aspirational talented individuals. We have taken on two apprentices and the whole business is looking forward to helping them develop.

“Weston College has been extremely helpful and I would highly recommend getting in contact with them to support you with the whole apprenticeship process.”

Dr Paul Phillips CBE, Principal and Chief Executive of the Weston College Group, said: “Apprenticeships play an important role in developing highly skilled workforces for organisations and it is fantastic to see how many businesses are making use of our Training Solutions team to help develop young people and adults across the South West.

“We have seen more apprenticeship opportunities open up for our students across a range of sectors, which is very exciting for the College and our learners.”

You can keep an eye on the campaign’s progress across social media, with #200in100 being used on Twitter.

For more information and to pledge go to: www.weston.ac.uk/200in100. You can also email the apprenticeship team at enquiries@weston.ac.uk or call on 01934 411 594.