Charlie gets on board to help firms’ recovery
AVALLEY teenager is among a team of seven Advanced Level Computing Students to create a tool which monitors and tracks vacancies and skills gaps across multiple sectors in real time.
The students from Burnley College Sixth Form Centre are helping the Aerospace and Engineering industries in Lancashire recover and grow following the pandemic.
The bespoke “dashboard” uses live data to create an instant, visual and easy to understand report showing employment trends, skills gaps and potential supply chains.
It’s all part of the £1m Lancashire Advanced Engineering and Manufacturing (AEM) Watchtower project.
Charlie Glover, from Bacup, in his first year and found out about the project through his tutor.
The former All Saints’ RC High School pupil, 18, explained: “The main focus of the Watchtower project is to see how Covid has impacted the industry as a whole and give experts in the industry the right information they need to ensure a quick and effective recovery.
“There’s a huge amount of data which needs to be assembled, filtered and then displayed in a way which is useful and instantly informative to users.
“It took a lot of discussion as team and hard work to create the product as it currently stands.”
Elsewhere, two other talented Burnley College students from the Valley collected their Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace.
Former Alder Grange pupil Luke Ireson, from Rossendale, and Ryan Jones, who is from Bacup and a also former student from The Valley Leadership Academy, were among a group to attend the celebratory event.
Luke, 20, and Ryan, 21,
received a warm welcome from Prince
Edward and actors James and Oliver Phelps, Fred and George Weasley from the Harry Potter films, who presented their awards.
The ceremony, usually held annually, was due to take place in 2020, but national pandemic restrictions meant it had to be postponed.
The group had to learn multiple new skills, engage in community or charity volunteer work, demonstrate physical skill and take part in an expedition among other tasks to earn the coveted award.