A group of Year 11 boys visited Top Notch, a well-established joinery workshop in Kettering.

Six students were given a tour of the CAD office where 3D plans are drawn-up and they then toured the large workshop and shown some of the work and materials used by the joiners.

Senior Assistant Principal Mrs Alice Beckwith arranged the trip. She said ‘Many students have a rough idea about the type of work they would like to do but they often don’t know about all the different trades and skills that they could look into.’

Terry Nolan, one of the partners of the company explained the pressures of running a business in which decisions to expand and buy the latest machinery had to be weighed up against running efficiently and remaining competitive.

He showed the group the company’s £250, 000 CNC machine cutting out complex joints and finishes that enables them to produce work quickly. The students were shown processes including gluing layers of wood for the interiors of yachts and the store where the timber was kept. The boys were surprised by the price tag of the raw materials.

Mrs Beckwith said ‘Coming from a family in the construction industry, I was keen to show some of our Design Technology students that there is a difference between carpentry and joinery and that there are excellent opportunities in stone masonry as well as the more well known trades such as plumbing, bricklaying and plastering.

There is currently a shortage of skilled workers within the construction industry in the UK.

Mrs Beckwith said ‘Many of our students will find fulfilment in such careers so I think it is really important to show students what local companies do and the routes into these highly desirable and much sought after skilled trades.’