Our teams at RAF Shawbury, RAF Valley and our Bristol Training Hub have been welcoming young people from our local communities, who have come to our sites to get a taste of working in defence, training and aviation.
At Shawbury, students spent time with various teams around 1 FTS and had the chance to look at a variety of simulators.
Sessions included shadowing a Ground School lesson, familiarisation of the Lockheed Martin engineering function, learning about ‘life as a trainee’, map reading and CV writing skills
We received lots of positive feedback from the students and their parents, and it was a pleasure to provide the students with a taster of working life at 1FTS.
At Bristol, we may not have had aircraft to show off, but more than a dozen students took part in a packed programme from our Media, Communications, Finance, ICT, Opps, HR, Commercial and Programmes teams.
The students gave great feedback and said they loved their time with us.
At RAF Valley we received help from our partners at Lockheed Martin, Affinity Flying Services, 72 Squadron, 202 Squadron, and BAE Systems to provide students with a truly engaging and memorable experience.
The work experience week included a diverse programme of activities, including aircraft and hangar visits, career presentations, tactical planning sessions, flight training technology demonstrations, virtual and mixed reality training device experiences, pilot career insights, and opportunities to meet staff and instructors in general.
The feedback received from the students has been overwhelmingly positive. They particularly appreciated the variety of activities, the enthusiasm shown by everyone involved, and the opportunity to gain first-hand insight into aviation, engineering, military operations, and training environments. Several commented on how valuable it was to speak directly with professionals and experience technologies that are not normally accessible to young people.
The success of all our work experience is a real testament to the time, effort and commitment of our teams across the UK. Whether hosting visits, delivering presentations, demonstrating equipment, sharing personal career experiences, or supporting the logistics of the programme, every contribution helped create an inspiring and rewarding experience for the students.
