Ron Dearing UTC signs up four more Major Partners to further boost students’ prospects

WORKING TOGETHER: From left, Andy Long, Senior Manager at Wood, Matt Sutcliffe, Assistant Chief Fire Officer at Humberside Fire and Rescue Service, Glenn Jensen, Senior Assistant Principal – Employer Engagement at Ron Dearing UTC, Sarah Hiles, Showroom and Events Manager at Porsche Centre Hull, and John Martin, Chief Technology Officer at The 55 Group

By Rick Lyon

Four more leading organisations have joined forces with Ron Dearing University Technical College (UTC) to open up further exciting career opportunities for students.

Humberside Fire and Rescue Service, Porsche Centre Hull, The 55 Group and Wood are the latest Major Partners of the school in Kingston Square, Hull city centre.

They will join more than 40 other top businesses which help develop and deliver employer-led projects, offer work experience, paid employment and apprenticeship opportunities and lead the UTC’s careers, advice and guidance programme in Founding Partner, Major Partner and Partner roles.

Major Partners also play a key role in helping to develop the Ofsted “Outstanding”-rated school’s unique employer-engaged curriculum.

Humberside Fire and Rescue Service has close to 1,000 staff across the region, including in areas such as ICT and data handling and intelligence.

Work is underway to transform the former Central Fire Station next door to Ron Dearing into a satellite school, which is due to open in June 2023.

Assistant Chief Fire Officer Matt Sutcliffe said: “This exciting new partnership with Ron Dearing UTC provides an opportunity for us to bring some really bright and capable young people into our organisation.

“We already have an affiliation with the school because of its move into the old fire station and we’ve now strengthened that bond.

EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENT: Humberside Fire and Rescue Service, Porsche Centre Hull, The 55 Group and Wood are the latest Major Partners of Hull’s Ron Dearing UTC

“We’re planning to bring in a number of apprentices from Ron Dearing and we’ll also be asking students to carry out some project work with us.”

Porsche Centre Hull is based at Bridgehead business park in Hessle and its state-of-the-art showroom is home to a range of Porsche models.

Members of the business’s 34-strong team worked with Ron Dearing UTC students taking part in F1 in Schools, the world’s largest Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) competition.

Students enjoyed a tour of the company’s showroom last year and held an F1 in Schools fundraising event, pitching their plans and ambitions to potential sponsors, ahead of a further event in February.

Sarah Hiles, Showroom and Events Manager at Porsche Centre Hull, said becoming a Ron Dearing UTC Major Partner kickstarts Porsche’s 75th anniversary year, as well as the 60th anniversary of the Porsche 911 model.

She said: “We’re really excited to become a Major Partner. We were so impressed with the students, their presentations and their impeccable behaviour and I was blown away by their confidence and capabilities, which is testament to the school.

“Porsche is all about supporting aspirational young people. We want to take on as many students for work experience in the workshop as possible and we want them to experience all departments to give them a good overview of working life.

“We’re also planning an employer-led project to celebrate Porsche’s 75th anniversary, perhaps designing a new interior for one of our models.”

‘SUPPORTING ASPIRATIONAL YOUNG PEOPLE’: Porsche Centre Hull is one of four new Major Partners of Ron Dearing UTC

The 55 Group uses a range of dedicated software and web-based applications to enable its customers to evaluate, procure, manage and learn within the construction industry.

The 90-strong team, based in Whitefriargate, Hull, also helps to educate those working in the industry to upskill workers and promote career progression.

John Martin, Chief Technology Officer at The 55 Group, said: “We’re excited to become a Major Partner. We’ve already offered work experience to four Ron Dearing UTC students and one is now working 14 hours per week for us as a Junior Software developer alongside his sixth form studies.

 “The industry often loses people to other geographic areas and we’re passionate about keeping the next generation of talent local. We’re also looking forward to getting involved in tech-based employer-led projects involving Ron Dearing students and attending careers expos at the UTC.”

Wood is a global leader in consulting and engineering, helping to unlock solutions to critical challenges in energy and materials markets. It provides consulting, projects and operations solutions in 60 countries, employing abound 36,000 people.

Andy Long, Senior Manager at Wood, which has its Hull office in Craven Street South, east Hull, said: “We’re delighted to have become a Major Partner of Ron Dearing UTC to bring the region’s top talent into our digital engineering talent programme. We look forward to guiding them in various engineering disciplines, potentially up to degree level.

“Ron Dearing UTC’s values fit very well with ours. We need people who live and breathe 3D modelling, maths, data and science and supporting young people in the communities we work in is front and centre of Wood’s core values.”

Ron Dearing UTC caters for students aged between 14 and 19, offering a specialist focus on digital technology, creative digital, art and design and digital engineering. It is currently undergoing expansion to increase its capacity from 600 to 800 students following growing demand.

Glenn Jensen, Senior Assistant Principal – Employer Engagement at Ron Dearing UTC, said: “We’re delighted to welcome four new Major Partners and we’re excited about the opportunities this will open up for our students.

“Our employer partners are a huge part of how we operate at Ron Dearing UTC and they bring an incredible wealth of experience, knowledge and skill to our curriculum, helping to guide and support our students as they prepare for their next steps.”