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BMAT STEM is waving students off to futures full of prospects.

Year 13 students at BMAT STEM Academy have secured themselves high-level apprenticeships and offers of prestigious university places.

The school focuses on preparing young people, from the age of 14 in Year 10, for careers in the industries showing a skills shortage in the town.

Harry Mayhew will become an apprentice engineer with Z-Tech Control Systems, based in Cambridge, from September.

During his time at the academy, he has had the opportunity to complete work experience with Thames Water, Raytheon and GSK, which helped him to decide on his future career path.

He said: “I have never fancied going to university and am keen to just get stuck in to work and learning on the job.”

Harry’s engineering Level 3 Diploma will involve three six-week blocks of time spent at college, before he decides on an area to specialise in.

Classmate Saul Lintonbon-Baker is taking on a four-year, high-level accountancy apprenticeship with Kingston Smith accountants, in London.

He said: “Having had the opportunity to speak with lots of people in the industry who have visited us at school, I decided an apprenticeship is the best route for me as that includes a chartership. If I went to university, I would still have to do a separate chartership at the end.

“I also took part in the Working in the City with UBS online chat room with their graduates who gave us advice on different career pathways and getting into the industry.

“We have always had access to a lot of employers and that has been helpful. I did not know what I wanted to do, but was interested in maths and science. The advice and guidance has been amazing.”

Careers advisor Hayley Lancaster, of All Together, said: “Apprenticeships are important as they give students real choice in gaining a high-level qualification without the fee of university. They also get hands-on experience in the work place and are employed from day one.

“For industries such as computing and engineering, employers are telling us they want these types of students over graduates. Big employers are starting to come to us to ask for our students to apply for their apprenticeships.”

Other students have been offered places at Anglia Ruskin University, University of Northampton, University of Winchester, London South Bank University, University of Essex, Staffordshire University, DeMontfort University, Southampton Solent University, University of East Anglia, University of Lincoln, Kingston University and University of Nottingham.

They are signed up to study computer gaming technology, computing, accounting and finance, chemical and process engineering, biomedial science, computer science, computer systems engineering, English literature and creative writing, maths, computer games development, computer science with artificial intelligence and mechanical engineering.