I went on two very different education-related visits last week. The first was to Andrews Endowed primary school in Holybourne where the children grilled me on everything to do with being an MP and Minister for schools.
Despite their young age, they asked lots of really good, searching questions and were utterly charming as well! I was also treated to a tour of the school to see a number of new developments. My thanks to the headteacher and school team for inviting me along.
Straight after my trip to Holybourne I headed to Lasham to meet the team from 2Excel Engineering to talk about the other end of the learning spectrum: apprenticeships. Most of you will know Lasham as the home to one of Europe’s leading gliding clubs, but the airfield is also home to 2Excel Engineering - a maintenance and repair organisation for the airline industry, governments and private owners.
To outline the backstory, back in 2015 the previous firm, ATC, went into administration. 2Excel Engineering brought the business, which then stood at 20 staff, and turned it into a thriving operation now employing over 200 people.
What the company does brilliantly is nurture local talent. And we need more of this in East Hants.
The apprenticeships programme that I went to see allows them to create a pipeline of young people to fill highly technical, and well paid, skills gaps created by an ageing workforce and the after-effects of the pandemic (this is an industry-wide problem).
To date, 14 apprentices have graduated from the programme with a further 12 apprentices on the books. The specialisms covered include aircraft engineering and ‘non destructive testing’.
If you read my column regularly you will know that apprenticeships is a favourite topic of mine so observing the apprentices as they honed their skills in the workshop was a real joy.
2Excel Engineering run open days for anyone interested in a career in aviation engineering, or STEM more generally, so do check out their website.
And I can’t sign off without mentioning the fantastic news we received last week that Whitehill and Bordon will be getting a banking hub – the first in Hampshire! This has been the culmination of many months working with Link, the organisation which determines which communities need banking hubs, and EHDC, so I was delighted to see such a positive outcome for the town. The work now begins to identify a site.
