Degree Apprentice (Mechanical) Review

The apprenticeship involves attending college 1 day a week all the way through studying HNC and HND, then later to complete a Bachelors Degree. In the first year of the apprenticeship, the other 4 days a week were spent at Yeovil college doing a level 2 performing engineering operations qualification doing practical activities such as sheet metal fabrication and composite manufacture. From the second year onwards, the days not spent at college are spent on site at Leonardo in 6 month placements in different areas of the company to get a good overview of what the company does, how it operates, and to get an idea of which areas you would be best suited for a permanent job at the end of the apprenticeship.

The apprenticeship induction was well organised, and gave a good introduction into how the programme works and what is involved.
Regular meetings with managers, mentors, and supervisors ensure that any issues are caught early and rectified as quickly as possible.
Training is provided both within placements for specific activities, and also to all apprentices for more general requirements.
The training department seems generally well organised although the reasons for any delays are not readily communicated.

Every apprentice is allocated a buddy (another apprentice further through the scheme), and a mentor (an experienced employee), as well as an apprentice manager, placement supervisor, and NVQ assessor. This results in a range of people who are easily approachable and willing to try and help resolve issues.

The lecturers at Yeovil college are approachable and willing to assist with any questions or to recap any topics not understood in lectures.
The NVQ is well organised with assessors able to provide individual advice to apprentices, and to advise which criteria can be met by different jobs undertaken by the apprentice.

The level 2 PEO qualification provides an excellent appreciation of how the sheet metal, composite, and electrical systems are manufactured allowing a better understanding of how the designs are constrained by the manufacturing processes. Many of the components on aircraft are machined, however the PEO does not cover any machining operations.
The HNC and HND units provide an excellent overview of how the different systems on the aircraft work and how they interact which helps with understanding the context of real engineering problems.

Yes

I would recommend Leonardo as the company provides good training schemes for a wide variety of jobs within the business.
I would only recommend a degree apprenticeship to someone with good time management and determination as the workload is high and requires a disciplined personality.