Students at Hunslet’s UTC welcome royal visitor

HRH The Duke of York visited the newly opened UTC Leeds today (Wednesday 29 March 2017) to learn about the unique technical college.

During his visit, he met students from the school who are benefiting from the employer-led curriculum. The students balance core GCSE and A-Level subjects with technical qualifications and projects identified by employers from the local area. One of those projects shown to the Duke was a challenge set by AGFA to recycle wasted heat for use in the cooling towers.

Amongst many different discussion topics, he had animated conversations with the students about the importance of apprenticeships and encouraging women in science and engineering.

The Duke of York also met with some of the key teaching staff at the school, as well as other local employers that work with UTC Leeds, including Siemens, AGFA, Unilever and Sound Leisure.

He addressed students, teachers and key stakeholders to the school, and talked of the head start that studying at UTC Leeds will provide to students.

Nick Henderson, a student from the college, commented: “The Duke was very impressed with what he’d seen at UTC Leeds. He commented on how much fun we seemed to have because of the types of projects that get to work on. He addressed the whole school in an assembly, telling us to have fun and work hard, and what an amazing opportunity we’d be given to study here. He seemed genuinely impressed with the entire college.”

Simba Musonza, a fellow student, also commented: “The Duke was surprising approachable, and it was just like talking to an ordinary person. He seemed really interested in the projects we were working on, and I showed him our designs for a Formula One car. It was a great opportunity to meet a member of the royal family, and not what you’d expect from a normal day at school!”

Mark Kennedy, Principal at UTC Leeds, commented: “We were delighted to welcome His Royal Highness to UTC Leeds. The college marks an exciting new chapter for the diverse education offering in Leeds, and it was fantastic to see and hear of The Duke’s interest and support for the UTC movement. It’s a truly revolutionary style of education for students, and enables them to become more work-ready than conventional schooling: offering them exposure to local employers, focusing their learning on the skills needed in the local job market, and training them on industry-grade equipment.”

 

One Reply to “Students at Hunslet’s UTC welcome royal visitor”

  1. Jeremy, thank you for publishing this story. It was a great to be able to promote the fantastic learning opportunities available to young people within South Leeds. The city is crying out for engineers and technicians and UTC Leeds can pretty much guarantee access to a huge variety of well paid jobs to those who attend. We also work closely with Leeds City College, Leeds College of Building and the University of Leeds so excellent linkages to apprenticeships and degree courses also available. Now recruiting for September 2017, into Y10 and Y12

Comments are closed.