Apprentice Review

On a day to day basis I undertake college work to complete the level 2 and level 3 aspect of the course before moving on site to Radway Green in a four day working week period with the fifth being a study at home day to help catch up with assignments.

During my college terms I gave learnt many new skills ranging from mechanical and electrical to milling and hand fitting. I also developed skills within maths and electronics to perform various calculations to answer my assignments. I have also developed my understanding of health and safety within the work place.

I enjoy my programme to a wide extent as it is a "hands on" learning experience compared to a theoretical approach where I can visually engage and complete hand made tasks for an assignment. The theoretical side is short my attention is still engaged when it is done making it much easier.

My programme is relatively well organised as the subjects are done once a day, once a week instead of multiple a day. There also breaks to split the day up and make it more manageable. However, the isn't much time within college hours anymore to complete coursework on time for any of the subjects.

I receive as much support as needed from my employer when it is required through 12 week check ins and regular text updates . However I do not receive much support from my employer as compared to a few others I do not require it in order to complete my course.

The support I receive from my training provider is quite lax and little outside of lessons but massive when in class. It is quite lax outside of a lesson due to slow returns of assignments and lack of due date guidelines. The support within lessons is much bigger as the lecturer is there so there are no slow replies for questions.

My training towards my qualification through my training provider is preparing me for my job role as it giving my smaller examples of what I'll be doing on site but with a slower and more guided approach so that I am aware before hand of procedures and practices found within a workshop.

At my workplace there are few events or extra curricular activities to get involved with due to the recent COVID 19 outbreak putting a halt to all events or activities like that. The only extra curricular event made available so far was an awards ceremony on site in the the newer apprentices attended.

Yes

I would recommended BAE to a friend as it is a good company to work for with many different career path opportunities across many different locations within the country in different sectors of the business. Allowing for change compared to other companies. The staff and colleagues are also friendly and helpful.

The tips and advice I would give to others that are or considering applying to BAE systems for a job or apprenticeship, is to know the company and what it manufacturers, across all sites, and to understand work shop health and safety procedures that would be commonplace in an environment like that.