STUDENTS at a Flintshire high school have completed an aviation course and are looking forward to their finale flying day.

As part of the Airbus Foundation’s Flying Challenge Programme, the group of nineteen year nine Ysgol Treffynnon students have undertaken a wide variety of tasks with the aim of developing new workplace skills, gaining practical experience, learning about careers in aviation and developing a passion for learning.

The programme is accredited at Industrial Cadets Gold Level, a nationally recognised qualification, and a graduation ceremony will be held at the school on July 4 where the students will be presented with their certificates.

Since commencing the programme in September, the students have been working in groups with their Airbus mentors on numerous aviation related projects involving weekly sessions at Airbus, Broughton and tours of the A320 and A330 factories, as well as classroom lessons and talks.

Over the last three months, the students have produced rivet plates to meet inspection standards, learned about drones and their uses, and undertaken a variety of STEM activities.

Each student also designed and made their own drone using recycled materials as well as producing a helipad to land their drones on.

Prizes were awarded for the best concept design and for best build. The next challenge for the students was learning to fly the drones through several assault courses and successfully landing them on the helipad.

In a few weeks’ time, the students will put all that they have learned into practice during a flying day at Airbus.

They will work with the police and RAF participating in different activities and also have a free flying lesson courtesy of Fly2Help.

The students will be taken up into the sky with a pilot and passengers and they will fly a small plane for about thirty minutes.

Vicky Bond, science technician at Ysgol Treffynnon, has been working with the students.

She said: “It has been amazing to see all the students develop new skills and confidence throughout the programme.

“They all dived into the challenge of designing and making their drones and helipads and they made some incredible designs. To see them tackle the challenge of flying the drones was fantastic.

“The programme has given the students an excellent opportunity to learn first-hand about the exciting field of aviation and all the different careers that are open to them, as well as developing their knowledge and understanding of flight itself.

“They are all very excited about the upcoming flying day which will be a truly memorable experience for them all and possibly a stepping stone to a future career for some.”