Courtney Mower and Harry Fox in the Sizewell B laboratory

FIFTEEN high school students from Leiston and Bungay have jumped at the chance of a two-week work placement at Sizewell B power station to help bring their studies to life.

The work placements were part of a long-standing relationship between the nuclear facility and local schools specialising in Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects.

Courtney Mower, 15, who has aspirations to be a chemist and was on her second placement at Sizewell, said: “I have really enjoyed working in the labs at Sizewell B which has included being involved in testing and sampling different materials.

“When I leave school next year I want to apply for a chemistry apprenticeship at the power station.”

Courtney gained first-hand experience of what it is like to be an apprentice at the site by shadowing Harry Fox, 17, who is in the second year of a three-year chemistry apprenticeship at Sizewell B.

Harry, who completed his chemistry A-level at Leiston High School while working at the power station, said: “Nuclear is an up-and-coming industry which I want to be part of and I am interested in how stuff works so combining my science studies with a chemistry apprenticeship works well for me.”

Nick O’Dwyer, engineering head teacher for the North Suffolk Partnership, which covers high schools in Leiston, Beccles, Bungay and Stradbroke, said: “The relationship we have with Sizewell B has been a vital way of breathing life into the subjects we study in the classroom.

“The work placements at the power station demonstrate first-hand to our students that if they work hard they really can become tomorrow’s engineers, chemists and technicians.”