Business leaders from across Hull and the East Riding led a masterclass for Year 12 Ron Dearing students, helping inspire them to become entrepreneurs of the future.

For Entrepreneurs Only (FEO) is an independent Community Interest Company (CIC) comprising of local entrepreneurs who collectively turn over £3.5bn each year and employ more than 23,000 people.

Representing successful private sector businesses of all sizes, its goal is to boost the local economy, create more ambitious entrepreneurs, lift regional aspirations and inspire the next generation. As well as working with schools and colleges, members voluntarily help start-ups and other businesses to succeed and grow.

More than 170 Ron Dearing UTC students spent the day with FEO members at the University of Hull where they experienced an interactive NxGEN FEO Masterclass on some of the keys to business success, including marketing, money, attitude and people.

The entrepreneurs spoke about their businesses, knowledge and experience before the students produced their own business plans and presented their ideas in groups.

 

FEO members listened and provided feedback to guide them down the right path before the students enjoyed a tour of the university campus on Hull’s Cottingham Road.

Sam Caley, Joint Head of Sixth Form at Ron Dearing UTC, said: “It was a fantastic opportunity for our students to see what they could do in the future and covered so many employability skills such as communication, teamwork, leadership, listening and being creative.

“We’re really grateful to FEO and its members for giving up their time to support our students in this way and share their extensive knowledge and expertise. The students were able to ask questions and took so much away from the experience.”

Understanding profit and loss, finances behind starting a business, budgeting, finding and pleasing customers, failure and determination and business relationships were among the key elements of the day.

Mental health and wellbeing expert Sue Altass is Co-Founder and Co-Owner of Inspire-Ignite, which works with young people to encourage personal development, confidence and self-esteem, as well as working with businesses and individuals.

FEO member Sue said working with students from Ron Dearing UTC was a great success.

She said: “I spoke about how connecting emotional intelligence with academic intelligence can create rounded individuals which employers are looking for.

 

“The students stepped out of their comfort zones and it was great to see them applying practical thinking to come up with some great business ideas.”

April Madden, Events and Administration Coordinator at FEO, said: “Our members take time out of their own businesses to help the next generation. It’s not about convincing them to become business owners, but to show them the opportunity is there if they want it.

“We talked about how leadership, teamwork and attitude equals success and we’re really proud of all the students. They were engaged, interested and enthusiastic all day.”

Year 12 student Claire Williams, 16, was part of a group which began to develop the idea of an app to helps students manage tasks and homework, and also provide reminders to keep them on track.

She said: “I really liked the entrepreneur talks. You don’t necessarily have to be academically smart to become wealthy and we found out some helpful money tips.

“It was a really good experience.”

Fellow Year 12 student Marcus Swaby, 16, said: “It was a great day and it was fun listening to the entrepreneurs giving us advice. They come from such a wide variety of businesses and gave us some great tips which we can take into everyday life, such as confidence and the importance of first impressions.”

Two sixth form students from Ron Dearing UTC shared their winning climate change ideas with a high level audience from energy industries at COP26.

Catherine Crees and Jaden Taylor won The Waterline Student Challenge 2021, organised by Marketing Humber, which secured them a trip to the global United Nations climate change conference recently held in Glasgow.

As the “Sustainability Crew”, Catherine and Jaden had to plan and deliver their own eco project and find sustainable climate change solutions as part of The Waterline campaign.

They carefully researched and calculated how students and staff could offset their carbon footprints by cycling to school rather than driving or using public transport, which led to their peers and teachers changing their travel habits and the need for the school’s bike shed to be expanded.

Catherine and Jaden, both 17, were invited to attend and speak at a special COP26 fringe event as part of their prize, sharing their project and ideas with high level invited guests.

 

Catherine said: “I got a real insight into the future of sustainable energy generation, the complexity that we face and the new and emerging technologies that will help us achieve the goal of net zero.

“It was also great to hear how much the Humber is integral to the reduction of carbon for the UK.”

As part of their wider project ambitions, Catherine and Jaden also hope to spend their £2,500 prize money on planting a tree for every Ron Dearing UTC student past, present and future in Hull city centre. Talks are underway with Hull City Council to assess the possibilities, supported by further investment from the employer-led school.

Catherine and Jaden will also receive a behind the scenes VIP experience with a supporting business, providing an insight into potential sustainable career opportunities available to them in the future.

Jaden said: “I really enjoyed being part of the project. COP26 was so interesting and enjoyable, and we found out that capturing carbon and storing it underground can really help the environment.

“There were so many spotlights on us while we were on stage talking about our work. It feels good to know the work we’re doing is meaningful and we couldn’t have had a better platform to share it with others.”

Catherine and Jaden travelled to Glasgow with Ron Dearing UTC Senior Assistant Principal and Head of Engineering Glenn Jensen and Lisa Regan, the school’s Assistant Principal for Professional Qualifications.

 

Glenn said: “It was really interesting to hear more about carbon capture and the future of energy in the UK.

“It was also a fantastic opportunity to be in the same room as so many influential people from energy generation companies and hear what they had to say about what the transition to net zero looks like.

“For Catherine and Jaden to have that stage presence and talk in front of such a high level audience was amazing and great for their developmental skills.

“The Humber was mentioned heavily throughout our time at COP26, which shows the huge part our region has to play in making a difference.”

The Waterline Student Challenge 2021 was sponsored by SSE Thermal and Catherine and Jaden were named winners from six shortlisted teams.

Entries were judged by representatives from SSE Thermal, KCOM, Associated British Ports (ABP), Yorkshire Water, Ørsted, and Willerby, as well as guest judges from the University of Hull and the Zero Carbon Humber project.

The world’s leading consumer health and hygiene company has taken on apprentices from Ron Dearing UTC for the third consecutive year.

Global giant Reckitt, which has one of its biggest operations in Hull, is a Founding Partner of the Ofsted “Outstanding” employer-led school and has employed three more apprentices this year, taking the total to eight since 2019.

Research and Development Apprentice Leoni Wilkinson and Engineering Apprentices Dominik Gal and Ibrahim Aziz are based at the business’ Dansom Lane site but often work from home as most of the company’s non-manufacturing workforce continues to follow Covid-19 precautions.

Reckitt produces many of the world’s leading consumer health and hygiene brands including Dettol, Gaviscon and Nurofen.

 

Leoni, 18, will complete her five-year Chemical Science degree apprenticeship through the University of Kent remotely while continuing to learn and work in person at Reckitt.

She said: “I’m on site three days per week and working as part of the Mucinex formation team, which means we develop the cold and flu products in liquid, tablet and capsule form.

“I’ve always wanted to pursue a career in science and I’m excited to have hands-on experience while learning at the same time. There’s so much opportunity at Reckitt and they really care about their staff.

“Ron Dearing UTC supported me to prepare for my apprenticeship with mock interviews and presentations, which helped me get through the interview process.”

Leoni’s line manager Alex Keable, Formation Associate at Reckitt, said: “When we look for apprentices, we want independent critical thinkers, which is what we get from Ron Dearing UTC. They treat their students as adults.

“It’s tough coming into a large workplace as an 18-year-old, as many employees have degrees, masters degrees and PhDs, so it’s great that they have that mindset. It’s amazing to see how far they can go. Leoni has made a fantastic start to her apprenticeship at Reckitt.”

Hull’s employer-led school, Ron Dearing University Technical College (UTC), is delighted to have received approval and funding for exciting expansion plans.

Ron Dearing UTC has been awarded a grant of just over £3.7m to increase its capacity by reconfiguring space in the school’s existing building and creating a hi-tech new Centre for Sustainability in Hull’s former Central Fire Station, adjacent to the school.

 

Focusing on decarbonisation and renewables, the expansion will support the Humber’s growth as a leading region for green energy technologies by providing local industry with an additional 100 highly skilled and qualified potential employees every year.

The grant funding for the expansion is from the Department for Education’s Post-16 Capacity Fund, launched earlier this year to ensure schools and colleges can accommodate an expected increase in sixth form students. Ron Dearing UTC is one of 39 providers across England that have been awarded a total of £83m from the fund.

The Ron Dearing UTC expansion will enable an additional 200 students to study Level 3 qualifications in engineering, creative and digital, increasing the school’s overall capacity to 800 students.

The expansion plans have been drawn up in consultation with parents, local employers, the Hull and East Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), the Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce, Hull City Council and the region’s post-16 education providers. They have been informed by a review of the renewables, engineering and digital curriculum available locally, which highlighted the need to increase places on Level 3 academic applied technical qualifications.

 

Ron Dearing UTC Principal Sarah Pashley said: “This is great news for the region and its young people. Having received approval for our application for funding, we can now focus on turning our plans into reality.

“We’re really excited by this opportunity to offer more students the chance to benefit from our unique employer-led education model and increase the pipeline of talent we provide to local employers.

“We are extremely concerned about climate change and want to play our part in supporting the Humber’s contribution to meeting the UK’s net zero target. As jobs in the green energy sector grow rapidly, our expansion will ensure significantly more local young people are well placed to take advantage of these opportunities.

“Our vision is for our Centre for Sustainability to be a ‘smart building’ that is used as a teaching resource for our students and a model of outstanding practice in terms of green renovation projects.

“I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to our amazing employer partners – without their outstanding support this project would not be possible. The backing we have received from Hull City Council has also been crucial, as the council is leasing the former fire station building to us on a long-term peppercorn rent.”

 

Richard Martin, Customer Experience Director at Arco and Ron Dearing UTC’s Chair of Governors, said: “Matching our curriculum with the needs of the region’s employers is what we do best at Ron Dearing.

“This funding allows Sarah and her team to give our students the relevant skills they need to support the region’s ambitious growth plans in the renewables and sustainability sector, as well as expanding our digital capabilities. I’m delighted the DFE is supporting our growth and giving us the tools we need to take our partnerships with the region’s employers to the next level.”

The new Centre of Sustainability is expected to open in September 2022. It will feature renewables workshops as well as digital studios equipped with Computer-Aided Design (CAD), augmented reality and virtual reality software as well as 3D printers. The facilities and equipment will enable students to create product prototypes to address real world industry challenges.

Additional Sixth Form independent study space will be incorporated into the Centre for Sustainability and the school’s existing Ørsted Library. In addition, a number of new science labs will be developed within the school’s current building to broaden the highly successful Science curriculum to include Digital Health.

The Department for Education’s support for the expansion plans reflects Ron Dearing UTC’s success in producing young people with advanced engineering, creative and digital skills for local industry, as well as the school’s status as the only provider in Hull judged as “Outstanding” by Ofsted for post-16 provision.

Ron Dearing UTC caters for students aged from 14 to 19 and offers a unique model of employer-led education with a specialist focus on digital technology, creative digital and digital engineering.

The school has been over-subscribed every year since it opened in September 2017 and has an impressive record for student destinations, with over half of Year 13 leavers progressing to apprenticeships at Level 4 or degree level, compared with just 6% nationally.

 

Ron Dearing UTC is supported by many of the region’s leading employers, including KCOM, Reckitt, Siemens Gamesa, Smith+Nephew, Spencer Group, Arco and Ørsted. The employer partners are actively involved with the school at all levels, including leadership and governance, curriculum design and delivery, mentoring students and providing sought-after apprenticeship opportunities.

The former Central Fire Station building originally opened in 1929 and was rebuilt after the Second World War. It closed in 2017 and Hull City Council subsequently acquired the site with a view to identifying a new use for the building.

Student engineers of the future are learning crucial robotics skills to give them the edge for exciting career opportunities and fill an increasing national industry skills gap.

Year 12 and 13 students at Ron Dearing University Technical College (UTC) in Hull are working with a state-of-the-art FANUC robot training cell as part of their Automation and Control engineering course, understanding how automation, or robotics, is used by some of the region’s largest manufacturing companies.

The robot has been jointly funded by the Ofsted ‘Outstanding’-rated employer-led school and the UK’s leading shower manufacturer Kohler Mira, one of Ron Dearing UTC’s Major Partners.

The robot mirrors tasks which computer software maps out on screen and enables students to gain cutting edge, industry level specialist skills that will set them up for bright futures in an under-staffed sector.

 

Glenn Jensen, Senior Assistant Principal and Head of Engineering at Ron Dearing UTC, said: “This state-of-the-art robot training cell is allowing students to experience first-hand what their jobs in automation could be like in the future.

“They can use an actual robot with real life programming to achieve that, mirroring innovative industry level control and movement and understanding what that will be like in the workplace.

“This is a prime example of how we’re adapting the curriculum to suit employer needs and help to address the national skills shortage in this area of industry.”

Employer Partners of Ron Dearing UTC contribute financially to the pioneering school, playing a key role in developing the curriculum and set industry-standard projects for students to work on.

They also support students by providing careers information, advice and guidance, as well as offering work experience opportunities and often apprenticeships.

The employers are committed to equipping Ron Dearing UTC students with the skills they want to see in their future employees and to ensuring they are work-ready when they leave school.

Thanks to continued developments in technology, Kohler Mira has been at the forefront of the shower market for more than a century and has committed to taking on apprentices from Ron Dearing UTC in 2022.

Kohler Mira has also donated two additional robots to train students on how to fix and maintain them and also assist with programming skills, which will be brought into use in the near future to bolster learning opportunities.

Derek Atkinson, Operations Manager at Kohler Mira (Hull), based in Melton, East Yorkshire, said: “There is a clear and large skills gap in the local area in all aspects of mechanical, electrical and processing engineering, and we often struggle to fill those positions.

 

“If students already have those skills, it can only be beneficial to our business and that is testament to the fantastic partnership we have with Ron Dearing UTC.

“The Vice President of our business started his career as an apprentice and we wholeheartedly believe in offering these opportunities, which is why we’re delighted that Kohler Mira has committed to taking on apprentices from Ron Dearing UTC next year.

“Automation has enabled our business to grow and even bring business which was initially contracted out to China back to the UK. We’re using technology to safeguard and create jobs, and help us to work more efficiently as a business.”

Year 12 engineering student Mercy McFarlane, 16, said the robotics equipment will open exciting opportunities for learning new skills.

She said: “Having these skills will give me a big advantage over other people when applying for jobs because I’ll have extra experience and knowledge.

“I would like a career in automation and programming, so having this in school is perfect. I’m looking forward to learning more and gaining new skills.”

Plans are also in underway to offer use of the machinery to Employer Partners of the school that wish to use it for training their existing employees.

Fellow Year 12 engineering student Isaac Barton, 16, said: “It’s great to learn automation skills now and have a much higher chance of securing a job in the future.

“I’d really like an apprenticeship with Ron Dearing UTC’s Employer Partners. I like practical and hands-on learning and automation comes into that. It will be great to have skills that other people don’t have.”

Four former Ron Dearing UTC students have secured prized apprenticeships at laser manufacturer Luxinar.

Jack Christian, Rhiannon Lowther, Jake Morris and Ethan Russell, all 18, are now Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Apprentices at the Hessle-based company, which has been at the forefront of laser technology and manufacture for more than two decades.

Luxinar, a Major Partner of Ron Dearing UTC, has installed thousands of lasers worldwide for use in a vast range of industries and applications and has opened its doors to apprentices from the employer-led school for the first time this year.

 

All four apprentices will experience every area of the business on a rotation basis as part of their two-year Level 3 apprenticeships, including manufacturing, service and after-sales, continuous improvement, quality and cable/loom assembly, and will undergo training with an external training provider every Tuesday.

Jack said: “I’ve always wanted a career in engineering and I’m really pleased to be here. I was one of the first students to join Ron Dearing UTC when it opened in 2017 and it was perfect for me. I’d rather earn while I learn through an apprenticeship than go to university.”

Rhiannon said: “Luxinar is a great place to start my career. I’d like to progress into electrical engineering or manufacturing in the future and this apprenticeship will give me a great grounding.

“Being a student at Ron Dearing UTC gives you lots of opportunities and opens doors, and you learn what is expected of you in the workplace.”

Luxinar is committed to inspiring and encouraging students to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) related careers, helping to shape its local future talent pipeline.

Jake said: “I’m working in service and after-sales at the moment, which means we assemble, test and fix the lasers returned from customers, and I’m really enjoying it so far.

“I prefer practical-based learning and Ron Dearing UTC helped me to go down the right engineering path. The teachers are great and very supportive, and it’s a really professional environment.”

 

Ethan, who is currently learning and working with power supplies as part of his apprenticeship, said: “Being a Luxinar apprentice is helping me learn more about the industry and it’s a really good company to work for. Gaining engineering theory and manufacturing experience at Ron Dearing UTC has stood me in good stead for this role.”

Chris Newman, Supervisor at Luxinar, said the company’s first cohort of Ron Dearing UTC apprentices are settling in well and they will be offered the opportunity to progress to degree level in the future if they wish.

He said: “They’re already achieving at a high level because of the skills they’ve gained from Ron Dearing UTC in readiness for the workplace.

“As a Major Partner, it’s invaluable to have the pick of the talent from the school and we’re looking forward to helping them progress within the business. Ron Dearing students are a cut above!”

Photos by Neil Holmes Photography