The ACP meets with schools from Bath, Bristol, Cirencester & Torbay
On 5 December the ACP Roadshow Team of Chris Marshall, Mike Stokes and Michael Smith, albeit ‘one man down’ due to sudden illness, but superbly supported by Babcock International and GKN Aerospace, were hosted by Abbeywood Community School, Bristol, when they presented to an audience of 118 Sixth Form pupils and staff including those from Cirencester College, King Edward’s School Bath and Torbay Grammar School.
During the morning Dr Smith introduced students to some of the technologies from what is known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution (see: Technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution) such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, The Internet of Things, Robotics, Drones, Virtual Reality, Quantum Computers, Nanotechnology, 3D Printing and Blockchain + Cryptocurrency. With robotics and AI he was joined by Chris Marshall who introduced and directed questions to Spot, our Boston Dynamics quadruped robot, and then handed over to the teams from Babcock International and GKN Aerospace who introduced their companies and explained their respective journeys into the aerospace and defence industries.
Dr Smith continued by explaining the aerospace, space and aviation industries in more depth and made particular reference to their current and future career opportunities, plus future technologies up to the year 2050. Following our introduction of Iain Williams dressed in the ACP’s replica NASA Shuttle EVA suit a short break was taken for lunch, and then the during the afternoon the students were encouraged to be ‘hands-on’ with drone flight simulators, VR flight experiences, 3D Printing and, of course, ask more questions of Spot.
It was during this period of the day that Louis McCullough, Romana Majid and Daniel Starling from Babcock International, and Jonathan Craig and Danyal Ahmed from GKN Aerospace, were able to closely engage with, and answer questions from, all the students as they rotated in carousel fashion around the many breakout areas which included team exercises, hands-on activity and career explanations.
On behalf of the ACP Trustees, Dr Smith would like to thank most warmly Benjamin Dilley, Headteacher at Abbeywood Community School and, in particular, Iain Williams for his outstanding event marketing and personal support. Finally, we are most grateful indeed to Babcock International and GKN Aerospace who were superbly represented by Louis, Romana, Daniel, Jonathan and Danyal.
The visiting schools have now joined Abbeywood Community School as members of the ACP Network and will receive a continuing and growing input of relevant information via our website, social media and YouTube channel. To the staff of all four schools we say a very sincere Thank You, and to the students we wish them every success for their future education and subsequent careers.
