Seventeen pupils from Dawlish Community College enjoyed a taste of what it is like to be an aerospace engineer during a recent visit to Exeter College’s Engineering Workshops.

The group of 14-year-olds not only learned from some existing high-flying students at the College about the exciting careers they could one day enjoy, but also about the different kinds of apprenticeships and engineering courses available to study at Exeter College, including those run in partnership with Flybe.

The day started with a presentation on the Theory of Flight which led to their challenge of designing and building a model aircraft. The teams whose aircraft flew the furthest won the Top Achievers Award and were given certificates and prizes for recognition of their effort and enthusiasm.

Dawlish Community College’s Head of Technology Fred Woodhead, who accompanied the pupils on the day, said: “The pupils are already studying towards their BTEC Level 2 in Engineering here in Dawlish, so for them to have the opportunity to actually meet students already on the Flybe course and to be able to ask them questions really sparked their enthusiasm, as did the practical exercise.

“There is a tendency to think Engineering is largely about ‘fixing things’. This event showed our pupils just one of the many exciting specialist areas they could go into if they choose to continue their studies in this subject. As we left, some of them were already talking about how focused they now are on securing a place on the Flybe course at the College as the next step in their career.”

Speaking after the event, The Flybe Training Academy Operations Manager John Tenner added: “Pupils from Dawlish Community College enjoyed a day of aerospace engineering which, we hope, encouraged their interest in becoming engineers of the future.”

Graham Wilson, who heads up the Aerospace team at Exeter College, continued: “For centuries, this country has produced some of the greatest engineers in history, but the number of students choosing engineering as a career has been in decline for some time. At Exeter College, the Flybe Fly-off programme is our way of encouraging children in our secondary schools to look at the exciting possibilities that are available in modern engineering.”

Of the eight second-year students on the Flybe Diploma in Engineering programme who gave support and guidance to the Year 10 pupils as they designed and built their model aircraft, he added: “We hope their enthusiasm for aviation will have inspired the visiting pupils to view engineering in a positive light and that, recognising it as an extremely worthwhile career option, one day they may decide that they would like to go into aerospace engineering themselves.”