in the press

On 14th April, two PureNet apprentices were given the amazing opportunity to chat live with Tim Peake at who is currently at the International Space Station for an exciting 6-month mission.

The opportunity arose as part of a local STEM Learning Ltd event at the University of York. The event was arranged with an aim to discuss the benefits of apprenticeships with teachers, to increase exposure for apprenticeships and to enable primary school teachers to provide careers advice and success stories to their pupils.

PureNet supports apprenticeships by offering apprentice roles within the company and was therefore delighted to accept the invitation. Two of the company’s apprentices Josh and Ben, began preparing for the galactic event, let’s see how they got on!

Josh: Ordinarily on a Thursday morning, I would be heading to PureNet’s York Office to spend the day working on front-end development, attending stand-ups and liaising with the rest of the team to ensure projects are all running smoothly. Today, however, was definitely not an ordinary Thursday! I was on my way to the STEM centre at York University, to discuss apprenticeships with local teachers and have a live call with Tim Peake!

Ben: Both of us were delighted when we were given the opportunity to discuss our apprenticeships and speak with Tim Peake. I have worked at PureNet as a Front-End Developer Apprentice for a number of months now and have thoroughly enjoyed my experience, I welcome any opportunity to share my experiences and encourage others to start an apprenticeship!

Josh: Upon arrival I was greeted with a buzzing room full of STEM graduates and other apprentices, we were given a plan of what was going to happen during the day. Very quickly everyone sat at tables and started discussing the big topic of the day, apprenticeships. I was lucky enough to be sat with 5 teachers who started by asking me questions about how I find STEM apprenticeships, my personal experiences, influences and rewards from my chosen career path.

Ben: The meet and greet was aimed to inform primary school teachers about the multiple options available for their students when it comes to choosing a career path, and how to make them aware of this from primary school level. I was able to answer many questions and share my story to give the teachers an overview of how I found my role at PureNet.

Josh: The feedback I received following our discussions was fantastic. The teachers shared that their knowledge of apprenticeship schemes was previously quite limited as most teachers have no first-hand experience. The main aim of this day was to explain apprenticeships to the teachers so when questions are asked by students they will have the confidence and knowledge to be able to answer and give advice.

I was delighted that I was able to offer my experiences and, hopefully, help young people in the future should they decide to research apprenticeships.

Ben: After the meet and greet all of the participants, myself included, moved into the main lecture suite where the video call was held. We connected with a number of people from around the world and got to hear presentations from each country as well as a presentation created by York’s space ambassador who was from ESERO (the European version of NASA). The presentation was promptly followed by Tim Peake’s broadcast which included a live Q&A segment where each country could ask two questions each and Tim would answer them.

Josh: My first impressions were that Tim was extremely confident and intelligent. Surprisingly, Tim joked with all the teachers asking questions and showing his humorous side. Before I knew it the time was up, lasting only about 6 minutes, I wished we got more time to speak with him!

Ben: Overall I enjoyed the whole experience and I’m delighted to be able to have helped inform local teachers of the different routes you can take in education.

Josh: Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the day and was delighted to be able to share the information and knowledge I have learned from being part of an apprentice scheme. I feel the day achieved its aims as the teachers learned more about STEM and apprentices and I was given an insight into a day in the life of a teacher!

If you would like to find out more about the Apprenticeships PureNet offers please email jane.thorne@purenet.co.uk