Voyage students ‘on the tools’ at Fix Auto Weston Super-Mare

Students from Voyage Learning Campus got the opportunity to experience what it’s like to work in accident repair at Fix Auto in Weston Super Mare, a site local to their learning provision. The students had first-hand experience on the tools as well as an opportunity to hear from employees and apprentices about their journeys into the sector.

Their visit started with a tour around the site where they saw the offices, the workshop, paint room and the scrap yard or the car ‘graveyard’ for those vehicles that don’t make it! 

The team at Fix Auto gave the students the opportunity to learn how to remove a front panel from a car. This activity helped the students to understand some of the daily tasks mechanics at Fix Auto work on. The mechanics explained the process of removing the panel and gave the students an opportunity to unscrew some of the key bolts, demonstrating how to remove the panel for it to be replace or fixed.  

Finally, the students got the opportunity to hear from a variety of employees about their journeys into the sector. Each employee had a slightly different speciality that tied into their interests, for example, one apprentice was working in paint as he enjoyed being creative whereas some of the others were working in Mechanical, Electrical and Trim (MET) as they enjoyed being on the tools. This showed the students the huge variety of roles they could potentially work in within this sector.

The teachers commented that it was good to get a ‘different insight to careers within the industry’ as well as reflecting on the visit ‘engaging tour, good hands-on time and good to hear from staff/apprentices’. Anna from Fix Auto commented that the most successful aspect of the visit was ‘showing the students all the options and career choices through the accident repair industry’. 

A huge thank you to the students at Voyage who got stuck in with the activities as well as Anna and colleagues from Fix Auto for supporting with arranging the visit and providing an inspiring experience of the workplace for these young people.