Baker Dearing’s Chairman Stephen Phipson CBE and Chief Executive Kate Ambrosi were pleased to support a visit by the Rt Hon Greg Clark, Executive Chair of the Warwick Innovation District, to WMG Academy for Young Engineers in Coventry on Monday 24 March.

The former Business Secretary toured the UTC’s excellent facilities including its expansive engineering workshop. The tour provided an opportunity to view an in-progress T Level lesson. WMG Coventry teaches an engineering T Level at key stage 5, in addition to a suite of A Level and Applied General courses.

Clark also engaged in a roundtable discussion with students who spoke about choosing the UTC for its T Level provision, strong employer links, and because they wanted out of a mainstream school curriculum.

One student said how they “never thought I would be able to do engineering at school,” before they came to the UTC.

Another said how they “love the engineering workshop so much.”

“Coming to the UTC was a shock,” said a student. “You get to meet new people and get hands-on teaching.”

Giving testament to the draw of the UTC was one student who revealed she travels two hours each way to attend.

The UTC’s and WMG Academy Trust senior staff then spoke to Clark, who sits on the government’s Industrial Strategy Advisory Council, about their concerns regarding the Schools Bill currently before Parliament. The Bill would compel all schools including UTCs to deliver the National Curriculum, which would heavily dilute the specialist technical education curriculum offered by UTCs such as WMG.

The staff roundtable also discussed the plethora of employers which support the UTC: A partnership with JLR led to students creating a film that was shown at a recent company sustainability conference. JLR’s Senior Sustainability Team visited the UTC earlier this year to thank the students Jignesh Bosamia, Nelly Rejek and Lauren Taylor for their work on the film.

A partnership with Aston Martin has also proved mutually advantageous. One year, a quarter of the car-maker’s degree apprenticeships were taken by WMG students.

Students are also being given the opportunity to study abroad, Clark heard, with around 60 from WMG Coventry and its twin school, WMG Academy for Young Engineers in Solihull, set to take up work placements overseas this year through the Turing Scheme.

Overall, the visit was an excellent showcase of the success of the WMG UTCs and the UTC programme nationally.

Thanks to Greg Clark for visiting the UTC and thanks to the staff and students at WMG Academy Trust for hosting a highly successful visit.