Tag: Leonardo

Leonardo apprentices create new ‘immersive’ work experience programme

  • The new work experience format at engineering company Leonardo allows high school students to experience what it would be like to have a career in a high-tech business
  • The programme, driven by the company’s engineering apprentices, aims to reflect the real-world impact of engineering and boost students’ enthusiasm for a career in STEM

The value of apprenticeships to Scottish industry could not be more topical, with 2018 marking the launch of Scottish Government’s ‘Year of Young People’ and the UK Government’s ‘Year of Engineering’. It was in the spirit of these two initiatives that apprentices at Crewe Toll-based engineering company Leonardo have created a completely immersive work experience programme for local high school students, believed to be an industry first. Continue reading Leonardo apprentices create new ‘immersive’ work experience programme

Apprentice award for Leonardo’s Lisa

Female Aerospace Industry Apprentice wins Apprentice of the Year Level 4 Skills Development Scotland Award

Leonardo apprentice Lisa Daniel (25) has won an ‘Apprentice of the Year’ Level 4 Skills Development Scotland award. Lisa won the award due to the exceptional levels of commitment and maturity demonstrated in her approach to her work in the Quality Assurance Department at Leonardo’s Crewe Toll Edinburgh site.

Lisa was one of three finalists to reach the final stages of the competition and the award success will no doubt act as a source of inspiration for her future growth within the business where she plans to progress as a Quality Assurance Technician. Lisa was nominated for the award for the impact she made in the Quality Department within a very short period of time.

Lisa joined Leonardo in September 2013, where she began three month rotations through the organisation’s apprenticeship programme. This saw her working in a wide range of departments from Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Radar Test and Electrical Computer Aided Design to Quality.

Lisa’s manager, Head of Quality Assurance Mike Lees, said: “We’re proud of Lisa and we’re delighted she has won this award. She conducts herself with great maturity and demonstrates Leonardo’s values in all of her work. She is thoughtful and takes time to reflect before taking action and is also able to adapt to changing environments and situations.

“Importantly, Lisa drives her own career development and is hungry to contribute even more.  Her customer awareness, team work and coaching skills show the first signs of leadership characteristics which are way beyond what I could have expected from someone who is at such an early stage of her career. It all appears to be so natural or effortless to her.”

Lisa said: “I’m really proud of my accomplishment and I’m looking forward to my future within Leonardo.”

Leonardo is one of the UK’s leading engineering and advanced technology companies, with 7,100 highly skilled employees based at sites across the country. The Company has a strong record of significant investment in UK innovation. It offers a breadth and depth of skills in innovation, engineering, design and manufacture which contribute to the success of the company as well as the UK as a whole, both nationally and regionally. Leonardo is committed to working with the UK supply chain, and with over 400 people on its award winning graduate and apprentice programmes, who will be helping to bring the next wave of UK-based technology.

Forth’s Friday Fun Day at Leonardo

Crewe Toll company collaborates with Forth One Radio to address Holiday Hunger

Going hungry in the school holidays is a harsh reality for many youngsters across the UK, and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Hunger recently warned that too many children have to survive on crisps and energy drinks when school kitchens are closed.

Continue reading Forth’s Friday Fun Day at Leonardo

Robot Games at Leonardo … and a Wookie came too!

More than a hundred school children and air cadets – and a Wookie ! – gathered at Leonardo aerospace engineering company at Crewe Toll to compete in the Scottish Robotic Games on Satuday. The competitors were joined by special guest Professor Sethu Vijayakumar, a Professor of Robotics at the University of Edinburgh and a Judge on BBC2’s Robot Wars, who judged the robot entries and presented prizes.

The games were the brainchild of former employee Peter Bennett, Director of the Rampaging Chariots Guild, and a former winner of the ‘Robot Wars’ competition. Peter designed the event to provide a simple, colourful introduction to the excitement of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects. The children acquire valuable skills by creating customised hand-built robots, whose capabilities are then tested in a number of challenges which Most Usedinclude robot football, robotic ‘tug of war’ and robot sumo wrestling.

Leonardo organised the event to increase young people’s enjoyment and interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) subjects, so that they might consider careers in this field in the future. They were particularly delighted to welcome many girls to the event – currently only 9% of engineers in the UK are women.

Research produced by Engineering UK this year confirms that only 35% of STEM teachers feel confident about giving engineering careers advice, so the industry has an important role to play in drawing young people to this field by providing enjoyable early experiences of STEM. Events like the Robotic Games encourage young people to imagine a creative, bright future for themselves in engineering and science.

Sethu Vijayakumar, Professor of Robotics at Edinburgh University, was particularly impressed with the childrens’ creativity. He said: “I think the main thing is their willingness to understand and formalise a problem, and then solve it by taking an existing piece of kit, and putting their own ideas into it.

“I always tell people that starting is the hardest thing, so I think this initiative is great because you have a kit which lowers the barrier to entry, and once you have that then people can feel more confident that they can do stuff on their own, and build on their capabilities. It is literally giving them their first ladder up to their first step, and I think this is great for that.”

 

 

 

Remarkable veterans inspire Crewe Toll staff

Armed Forces Para Snowsport Team (AFPST) launch Spirit of Challenge at Leonardo Crewe Toll site

Veterans the Armed Forces Para Snowsport Team (AFPST) veterans shared their remarkable stories of recovery, achieved through their participation in snowports provided by the AFPST (Armed Forces Para Snowsport Team) charity with Leonardo staff at Crewe Toll last week.
Continue reading Remarkable veterans inspire Crewe Toll staff

Local employer Leonardo ranked fifth in apprentices poll

Local employer Leonardo (formerly Ferranti) has been rated fifth in the UK in a new report.

RateMyApprenticeship has released a brand new School Leaver’s Guide across the UK which contains key information about UK employers to help young people who are just leaving school or college and are looking for opportunities (below).

Leonardo (with a long-established Crewe Toll site) was rated fifth in a list of 70 top employers, as voted by Apprentices across the UK. 

School Leavers Guide 2017

From Scottish Cup glory to Rampaging Chariots!

Liam learns some new moves at Leonardo!

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Scottish Cup winning midfielder Liam Henderson is a class act- he’ll go down in history as a key player in the heroic Hibs team that finally broke their Hampden hoodoo and brought the Scottish Cup home to Leith. Continue reading From Scottish Cup glory to Rampaging Chariots!

Leonardo staff raise £11,000 for Alzheimer Scotland

Presentation cheque for £11, 000 to Alzheimer Scotland by employees of Leonardo's Airborne and Space Systems division in Edinburgh on Thursday June 2nd 2016
Presentation cheque for £11, 000 to Alzheimer Scotland by employees of Leonardo’s Airborne and Space Systems division in Edinburgh on Thursday June 2nd 2016

Members of Leonardo’s Edinburgh Charity Committee presented a cheque for £11,000 to Alzheimer Scotland’s Abby Parkhouse at Crewe Toll yesterday. The  cheque represents the culmination of Leonardo employees’ magnificent fundraising efforts over the past year.

Accepting the cheque, Abby thanked Leonardo employees and said: “It’s incredible that the Leonardo employees have managed to raise so much money in such a short space of time. It will make an amazing difference to our day care bungalow based in Midlothian.”

The Bungalow, Alzheimer Scotland’s day care centre in Bonnyrigg, offers friendship, support and stimulation to help maintain and restore the sense of self-esteem, confidence and dignity of people with dementia. It gives people with dementia the opportunity to socialise, and a chance to take part in a programme of activities to suit individual service users, which includes physical exercise, craftwork, quizzes, mental stimulation and reminiscence in a friendly, supported and safe environment.

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Planting the STEM seed at Craigie

STEM: That’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths – but you knew that, of course!

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A team of employees from Edinburgh electronics company Leonardo (better known to us old-timers as Ferranti’s!) are planting a ‘STEM’ seed that could lead to improved career prospects for Craigroyston Community High School pupils. Continue reading Planting the STEM seed at Craigie