Withernsea High School

Young engineers shine during workplace visit

13 February 2025 (by admin)

Engineering students have been given an opportunity to apply their classroom learning in a practical setting during a workplace visit to one of the UK's leading providers of commercial and specialist vehicle services.

At the Burstwick headquarters of Martin Williams (Hull) Ltd, year 10 engineers benefited from a day of hands-on activities which incorporated elements of graphic design, electronics, vinyl wrapping and metalwork.

These skills were used in a number of contexts, from helping to build a commercial vehicle in the company’s workshop to testing electrical circuits. Elsewhere, the company’s graphic design team used their expertise to help create a new logo for the school’s hair salon. Using a hand-drawn design as inspiration, the team produced a digital version suitable for printing on to vinyl.

The sign was designed by year 10 student Abigail W who won a school-wide competition to create a logo for the recently relaunched salon. Explaining her involvement, Abigail said: “An idea popped into my head and I visualised it straight away. I’m quite an arty person and enjoy drawing in my spare time. I put a fair amount of time and effort into creating the design by hand and it felt really good to know that my artwork was going to be turned into a proper logo. One of my friends was on the trip and gave me one of the finished stickers, so I have seen how the final design looks and I love it!”

Amy Norris, head of Design Technology, said: “Abigail should be very proud of her winning design. Being able to see her artwork come to life for use in a real-life context is a great opportunity for her. The sign’s creation also provided the engineering students with a fantastic opportunity to witness the work involved in turning an initial idea into a finished product.”

Reflecting on the overall success of the visit, Amy added: “The students were fully engaged in the activities and their high work ethic was praised by various staff members throughout the day. It was clear that the students thoroughly enjoyed the visit, with many expressing an interest in securing a placement at the company during this summer’s work experience week.

“I would like to thank everyone at Martin Williams (Hull) Ltd for making us feel so welcome and for helping to inspire our students and support their ongoing learning. I am also grateful for the company’s help in creating the new sign for our hair salon and for a kind donation of vinyl offcuts to our DT faculty. These will be put to good use in the classroom for the benefit of both our GCSE students and the members of our extra-curricular craft club.”

Praising the students for their involvement, managing director Nick Williams said: “The students surpassed our expectations in their knowledge of the subject, their interest in what they were participating in and their overall positive attitudes. They had the opportunity to participate in solving electrical circuit problems, assisting on the build of a commercial vehicle and working in our vehicle graphics department.

“All students worked in all areas, some preferred one area more than another but on the whole, every student had a skill set that they had learnt in lessons that they were able to transfer to the tasks in hand. It was a pleasure to host them.”

Student feedback was equally positive with Jayden N saying: “I had a very good day. I enjoyed helping to build the vehicle and couldn’t believe how quickly we got it done. I have asked to go and get some work experience in the summer holidays.”. Louie Eldon-Thompson added: “Building the vehicle was really fun and I also enjoyed working on the electronic circuits.”

As well as encouraging the application of practical skills in a real-life setting, the visit also afforded students an opportunity to learn about a wide variety of careers and specialisms associated with the day-to-day running of the business. Such experiences offer a valuable insight into the world of work and are encouraged through the Gatsby Benchmarks – a national framework developed to support schools in the delivery of good careers guidance.

In relation to employer interactions, the benchmarks state that every student should have ‘opportunities to learn from employers about work, employment and the skills that are valued in the workplace’ and that every learner should have ‘first-hand experiences of the workplace’.

Nick Williams said: “As a local family business, we employ over 150 people and believe that it is important to encourage the next generation to explore the opportunities within our trade, which is quite bespoke and not something they would necessarily come across in the mainstream.

“We have ex-Withernsea High students as both apprentices and experienced staff members and believe the foundation they received from the school has contributed to their success within Martin Williams (Hull) Ltd. We hope that this experience helps to spark something within the students and leads them to become the next generation of engineers.”

Reflecting on this support, school careers leader, Viki Foster, said: “We are grateful to Martin Williams (Hull) Ltd for their continuing support of our careers programme. They are regular supporters of our events and have also opened their doors to our students for work experience placements. As a nationally renowned business, headquartered in our local area, we are delighted that they see the benefit of providing opportunities which have paved the way for apprenticeships and successful careers, both in our locality and beyond.”

Martin Williams (Hull) Ltd is one of the UK’s leading providers of commercial and specialist vehicle services, incorporating body build, accident repair, paint and maintenance divisions. The company celebrated 30 years in 2020 and supplies a diverse range of market sectors, ranging from industry and commerce to the UK government, law enforcement and defence.