East Midlands Airport (EMA) provides employment for around 800 people and supports 7,000 more jobs on the site – so it makes sense to give local people the right skills to join the workforce.
The Aerozone is for children aged four to 18, mostly at schools and colleges in a 15-mile radius around the airport, while the Academy offers free upskilling programmes and employability support to local unemployed adults. It is run by a small team, with Joanna Wood in charge of the Aerozone and Louisa Marsden, in a job share with Amy Smith, looking after the Academy.
The Aerozone and Academy moved to a new building on the airport site earlier this year. The Aerozone provides interactive role playing activities using real life props, equipment and uniforms for young people to get a feel for what different roles at the airport involve. This includes security, airfield operations, engineers and air traffic control, as well as pilots and cabin crew. New touch-screen equipment allows young people to explore how the aviation industry can decarbonise in the coming years. Attendees also hear from volunteer speakers from the airport and get terminal tours. School visits can be tailored around various relevant curriculum topics such as the environment, history of flying and transport.
The team has recently played a part in producing the Little Book of Travel Tales, a new free booklet produced by EMA’s parent company Manchester Airports Group to be handed out to young travellers at EMA and its sister airports Manchester and Stansted. It’s proved very popular at EMA this summer and includes short stories, poems and drawings submitted by local pupils via the Aerozone.
Some students from Derby College’s travel and tourism course and Nottingham College’s aviation studies course are given work experience opportunities. The team is also taking in primary school children at the Aerozone for the Department for Transport Reach for the Skies aviation recruitment campaign and supporting the Fantasy Wings programme with work experience and regional conferences to encourage engagement and applications from young people in under-represented groups.
The Academy provides an industry-recognised ‘Introduction to the Aviation Industry’ accredited qualification through a free two-week course which runs once a month. It is offered to unemployed or low-income adult learners providing pre-employment and upskilling training including support with job applications and interviews.
The course has been over-subscribed, with 152 adult learners completing it since last December, and as the new academic year starts, the next course is already full. Around 35% of attendees go on to gain employment at EMA or in the wider aviation industry.
Education Manager Joanna Wood joined the team after bringing her own daughter to the Aerozone when she was young. She said: “I love the freedom of finding creative ways to get the best out of the children and open up their eyes to what’s out there and to see that there is so much more to an airport than they might think.
“Also a lot of them may not have been to an airport before - it’s great to see them excited to be on a school trip. It’s also good to know we are supporting local schools to meet certain targets and generally helping to build relationships with our local communities.”
Airport Academy Coordinator Louisa Marsden said: “I get great job satisfaction supporting people into employment. Seeing people grow in confidence and meeting new people from a range of backgrounds is really rewarding.
“We had a mature student come through the course last May after a career break who now works in our customer services team and says it’s been life changing for him. He comes back to talk to new students, which is great.”
