Eight Silverstone Technology Cluster business members will volunteer their time for the Silverstone Park Schools Programme which delivers awareness about career types and pathways to hundreds of secondary school students each year.

EES Solutions, Hexagon, Jaltek, Lunaz, NS85, Performance Projects, PUNCH Flybrid and Silverstone Composites have all volunteered to take part in the programme.

Combined, they will run workshops inside classrooms for Year 8 and 9 students, highlighting their areas of work and explaining the career opportunities within their respective sectors.

Some of those located at STC founding member Silverstone Park will welcome groups of students for a tour of their business to further showcase the world of work to youngsters.

In 2023, the Silverstone Park Schools Programme facilitated over 6,500 ‘meaningful encounters’ amongst 843 children at its three partner schools – The Buckingham School, Sponne School in Towcester and Kingsthorpe College in Northampton.

Silverstone Composites MD Marcus Trofimov: “We’re looking forward to once more supporting this programme – it’s a really important initiative that is helping to address concerns about the skills gap in the local area.

“Our area of work, in manufacturing carbon fibre componentry for Formula 1 and advanced engineering sectors such as space and automotive, definitely falls under ‘jobs of the future’ and the career possibilities are exciting and many.

“Young people can often bring new ideas and fresh thinking to a project.

“We firmly believe companies should, where possible, be supporting them through work experience, apprenticeships or full-time roles and opening their eyes to the opportunities through the Silverstone Park Schools programme is a great start.”

NS85 is a new business of engineers designing componentry for automotive and motorsport’s highest levels.

Commercial Director James Oliver said: “We’re seeing a huge skills gap in the industry so are keen on cultivating new talent – we have even launched a recruitment agency for the engineering industry.

“We’re not your typical engineering company and are looking to inspire the next generation and show them there’s so much more to it than sitting behind a screen. We want to use the programme to help young people set themselves apart and stand out from all the other CVs.

“Encouraging communication between business and young people is a really important task and something we strongly believe in.”

Spencer Thomas, MD of engineering design and development consultancy EES, said: “There is a skills gap and also an ageing engineering population, plus there’s a misunderstanding that engineering is a dirty job which is ridiculous.

“Joining the Silverstone Park Schools Programme enables companies like EES to help address those issues with the workforce of the future.

“Through the workshops we have planned, we want to see young people become excited when they begin to understand that everything that is part of their daily lives – whether it’s a piece of software, hardware or something they use for a hobby – has been engineered by men or women and that they can be doing that in the future.”

By Carl McKellar