Mechanical Engineering Apprenticeship Review

Currently I am a first year apprentice. This means I am studying full-time at OAS run by Mtc at Culham. My day is 8:30-4:30 Monday to Thursday and 8:30-2:30 on Friday. We work on a subject in blocks ranging from 1-4 weeks depending on depth the subject requires. Practical subjects are often 4 weeks and if you finish early you can make something of your own as a stretch activity. It doesn't matter if you have previously done a subject before as you are always given a higher level of work to stretch yourself. All of the facilities are high end and we have machines to ourselves to work on so we don't share equipment. Overall our days change based on what subject you are doing.

I have learnt lot's of new skills that I have never done before such as learning how to do milling, turning and work with fluid power. All subjects are taught from basic level to a higher level for people who have already learnt some of this skill. We start of with very basic parts or systems to make required to pass the subject and then we progress to more complicated parts to make.

The programme is very clearly planned out with greate communication. I don't have much on site experience and would like to visit more often to learn how I can relate the subjects I am learning at the college to my work that I will be carrying out on site.

STFC has excellent communication between line managers and the apprentices. You'll often get a response within an hour to any quires that you have. When you first start out everything is explained in detail on how it works, what to expect and what STFC expect from you. Sometimes dates within the college move but often notice is given.

If you ask for help they get back to you really quickly and are very helpful at trying to resolve any issues that you might face.

Training provider tries their best to make sure that we pass all qualifications. If you struggle to meet any deadlines they can give you extra time and teaching. Extra teaching is not often given as it messes with the time-table and is hard to find time to be taught. Lot's of people in the class suffer from dyslexia and adjustments are made by all training staff to change fonts, text and background colour on PowerPoints as well as reading out key documents.

I have given this an 8 as I haven't had much experience in my role some subjects feel as if they can be more relevant than others.

There are clubs like running and as far as social activities we have an awards evening every few months and you can socialise in the dinning hall.

Yes

STFC has a great working environment with friendly/helpful collages and managers. STFC provides great benefits including yearly apprentice pay rise, good pension scheme and discounts to shops and store. The facilities are high end and well maintained. As well as this there is lots of opportunity for progression and training within STFC.

Look at the website and see what projects STFC are currently undertaking and see what interests you as there are lots of departments that carry out different projects.