Success Stories

Engineering

• Darren Glover - Engineering Apprentice

  Darren, aged 19 from Sneyd Green, Stoke on Trent, works in the experimental team at JCB Utility Products, Cheadle.

  “I’ve been able to put what I’ve learned at college into practice at work and that’s been a real advantage for me.

  Coming to college has kept me up to speed with the latest equipment and practices – and made me really valuable in my team at work.

  Once you get a taste for engineering, you’re hooked. Now I plan to do my Foundation Degree and go on even further if I can.”
   

  

• Darren Hall - Engineering Apprentice

  Darren Hall, aged 20 is from Sheen. He joined Belle Engineering as an apprentice, and is now a self-employed agricultural engineer and contractor.

  “It’s a lot better than just going to work or going to college full time. This way you get the best of both worlds and can see how the theory fits with the hands-on experience at work.

  After being made redundant, I’ve funded my last year’s studies myself because I know that my qualifications will be really valuable in the future.

  My achievements during my Apprenticeship gave me the confidence to set up on my own and now I know I’ll be an engineer for life.”
   

  

• Rachel Chell - Engineering Apprentice

  FROM an early age Rachel Chell was always a `hands-on` type of girl who preferred getting her hands dirty to working at an office computer.

  So it was no surprise when she left Cheadle High School to start an apprenticeship in engineering at digger giant JCB. And, although she was the only girl in the workshop at Leek College where she started her training, she never let that worry her and passed both her NVQ Level 2 and Level 3 courses in engineering with flying colours.

  Nineteen-year-old Rachel, a mum of one, said: “I’ve never been one for fake nails and that sort of thing. I’m happier putting on my overalls and working on a lathe. So I’m really enjoying my apprenticeship and the tutors at Leek College have been brilliant.

   

  

• Reece Moulton - Engineering Apprentice

  Engineering Apprentice Reece Moulton is taking the fast track route to qualifications after starting work at JCB in Rocester.

  Rather than the traditional day-release where students spend one day a week in college and four days at work, twenty-year-old Reece spends four days a week at Leek College training in the engineering workshop and just one day a week at the JCB factory where he is employed in the research department.