Level 2 students blossom into leaders with help from BAE Systems

Our Level 2 students had a fantastic day hosted by Chris Roberts, June Strydhorst and Joanne Jones from BAE Systems. Focussing on leadership skills, the students were tasked to build a guttering system where four balls ran down it with three balls dropping into buckets along the way, meaning that the students had to work out how to cover those holes, once the ball had dropped in.

A leader and a deputy were chosen, with the other students being planners and builders. A plan was drawn up about how to solve the challenge. The team realised that they had to start the guttering system quite high, so the builders were busy making boxes.  While the students were building and testing the guttering system, they adapted their plan when things were not working as well as they thought. The leader would group the team together and discuss the best way to move forward. Team members gave constructive criticism about how things could be done differently, and the leader listened carefully to their feedback. Chris, 15 “I assisted on construction. I reviewed the problems and planned round the issues including the drops.”

While the task was underway, four students were taken out at a time to experience flying a Hawk in the Full Mission Simulators, courtesy of BAE Systems. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and the students had an amazing time. Thank you to Chris Martin and the simulator staff for giving up their time to teach the students.

With students coming in and out, opportunities for a new leader and deputy arose. The outgoing leader had to clearly instruct the new leader about what they wanted to achieve, plus describe what they had done so far. The new leader then had to allocate tasks to the team. Some of the challenges the leaders faced were ensuring all the team members had a job to do and were listening to instructions. It was clear that the task was not going to succeed unless the whole team worked together. Shannon, 14 “I was the deputy leader. I made sure the team worked together and achieved its goals by giving clear instructions to the team. I enjoyed the simulators.”

The students had a break for lunch and then had the opportunity to observe Hawk T2s prepare for departure. The students had not realised the teamwork involved in this process. They visited the hangar where the engineers were working to fix the planes. Once the plane was ready to fly, the pilots had to sign out of the Operations room, having planned the sortie and informed Air Traffic Control. They then carefully checked the inside and outside of the aircraft for any problems, alongside an engineer. One Hawk had a problem so a team of four engineers came out to solve it. Once they were ready to go, a marshal using non-verbal communication directed the Hawk safely to the runway.

Observing this teamwork inspired the students to finish their guttering task, which they did with great success. The leaders chosen were reticent at first but they blossomed into the role; they instructed their team, listened to feedback, adapted the task and delegated jobs. Well done!

Dan 14, “I was a member of the team. I gave praise today. I told Luke that he had done well when he had made the first block. I enjoyed the simulators and the instructor who was with me said I landed the plane well.”

Thank you to Chris, June and Joanne for delivering a great session on leadership, and to BAE Systems for giving the students the opportunity to experience the simulator.