Student returns to old school to build a new one
Eighteen-year-old Dylan Hughes starts work next month helping to build a new school to replace the one he has just left.
Dylan has been recruited by the construction and development company Bowmer+Kirkland and will be part its team delivering the new multi-million pound Cramlington Learning Village.
He is one of 20 former students at the school who successfully applied for Degree Apprenticeships, with other members of his year group also joining high-profile organisations such as Lidl, Northumbria Police and Sellafield Power Station.
Dylan will be an Apprentice Site Engineer during the two year project, studying part-time for a Civil Engineering degree at Northumbria University.
He will be returning to CLV after receiving A Level grades A and B for Physics and Maths and a Distinction* BTEC in Sport.
“Ever since primary school I’ve loved Maths and then, moving up to secondary school, I started doing Physics and I loved that as well – so I just wanted to do something that would combine them both,” said Dylan.
“When I started sixth form I was unsure about what I wanted to do, but I never wanted to go to university because of the debt.”
His sister had started a traditional apprenticeship and, with her encouragement and the support of his Physics teacher and his Mum, Dylan began looking into Degree Apprenticeships and applied for numerous vacancies.
He had already been on work experience with Bowmer+Kirkland – at a student accommodation development in Newcastle – and chose the company over another major civil engineering firm when he received offers from both.
“They didn’t specify which site, but said it would be somewhere in the Newcastle area until they found out where I lived,” said Dylan.
The new Cramlington Learning Village will be a three-storey L shaped building, located next to the current school and accommodating more than 2,000 students and nearly 200 members of staff. Four existing buildings, including the Junior Learning Village, will be kept but nine older and ageing ones will be demolished once the new school is ready. Work starts this month and is due to be finished in 2027.
Head of Sixth Form Ken Brechin said: “As they become more established Degree Apprenticeships are proving to be increasingly popular. Last year one of our students decided to take up a Solicitors’ Degree Apprenticeship, rather than going full-time to university, and I am sure her story has made this cohort think more about the range of options out there.
“The number of students deciding to stick with the traditional route is still high, though. Eighty leaving the school are heading to their first choice universities and that’s fantastic. But I suspect in the future we will the 80/20 split become more even.”
He added: “Dylan has been a fantastic student and it will be great to see him back here in his new role. We obviously wish him and all our other leavers the best of luck whatever they have decided to do.”