Higher level electrical apprentice Review

After completing my first year in college, I did an initial six month industrial placement in the yard to begin my second year. This was in Type 23 refit support group which assisted with the refit of the Type 23 frigates that are based out of Devonport. I am now in my permanent placement (which I will be in for the remainder of my apprenticeship and and after I have completed it). This placement is in submarine commissioning group. Through the remainder of my apprenticeship, I will do four different placements in different test groups across submarine commissioning group. Currently, I am in my first which is Propulsion test organisation, working on the V-class submarines. My day to day at the minute involves carrying out installation checks, insulation resistance tests, learning the different electrical systems on board, earth testing, filling out test forms during/after jobs as well as carrying out other test jobs on various pieces of electrical equipment on board. Throughout this, I am also continuing with my apprenticeship and college work such as completing one file tasks and assignments set by my lecturers at college,

Overall, I believe that my time in the yard has been the most organised part of my apprenticeship. Having the opportunity to see and work in different placements in and around submarine commissioning group will allow me to gain valuable experience in each group and ultimately make my decision for the test organisation that I want to work in in the final part of my apprenticeship and once I complete my apprenticeship. The training that I have received while in the yard has also been well organised and I have found it to be applicable to my job role.
On the other hand, I believe that my first year in college was poorly organised in terms of practical lessons that received/didn't receive, OneFile work that needed to be completed as well as some aspects of the delivery of the HNC at oceans gate. As I have already spoken about, the delivery of practical lessons for us higher apprentices was extremely poorly organised and resulted in us completing very limited practical tasks throughout the year. As the practical lecturer was more focussed on the level three apprentices (As they are more practical based), us higher apprentices had very limited time with our lecturer and as a result have received a lack of practical learning over that year.
Furthermore, as part of the apprenticeship we are required to complete a certain amount of off the job hours which we need to log on one file. My self and the other higher apprentices were not introduced to this until 5 to 6 months into our apprenticeship. We were offered poor guidance on how to complete entries into one file and also expected to have a certain amount of off the job hours by this point in the apprenticeship. I feel this aspect of the apprenticeship was very poorly organised/communicated and is something that we should of been introduced to in the first few weeks of starting the apprenticeship.
As a whole, I believe that the delivery of the HNC lectures at Oceans gate was good and the course was organised in a way which allowed us to comfortably complete our assignments with plenty of time. However, in some cases the marking and return process of our assignments was poorly organised. For example, in one module of our HNC the lecturer took 5 months to return our assignments when the return period was 20 working days. Currently, today (24/03/2026), I am still waiting for the return of an assignment which I handed in on the 10/12/2025 which also had a return period of 20 working days.

Throughout my apprenticeship so far, I have received good support from my employer. My line manager and Apprentice Development Advisor always answer any questions should I have any and help me to organise anything I need in order to complete my apprenticeship successfully.

Overall, during my time in college have received good support from my lectures. I have always received support with work/questions during lessons if I have required it and any questions I had about assignments set for the modules have always been answered accordingly.
However, as already mentioned some aspects of college such as the lack of practical lessons and poor organisation of one file are some instances where we were showed poor support from our training provider (City college Plymouth) and not provided with the correct information/support that we required.

I believe that the modules and their topics that we cover as part of the HNC have great relevance to my current role and can be applied to jobs and tasks that I complete on a day to day basis. Specifically modules such as project design and business management have provided me with the skills to efficiently work within a team and effectively manage people should that be part of my job role in the future. Another module, electrical and electronic principles has given me a good insight into different electrical laws as well as equations/mathematical techniques that can be used to calculate for different values.

Yes

Various apprenticeship opportunities at all levels from 2 to degree level to suit all kinds of career paths, good support from line managers/ADAs, get paid a good salary while learning skills on the job, gain quality and recognised qualifications, opportunities to further learning into HNDs and full degrees, opportunity to work in different sections round the yard to gain experience in each an help to make your final decision on where you would like to work, volunteering opportunities, extra curricular activities such as team residentials.