FUTURE
Developing skills – CF Fertilisers apprentices Sophie Dunn, left, and Alisha Massey.
Empowering the next generation
Why CF Fertilisers is working in partnership with educators to develop the engineers of the future
The Billingham Complex, home to CF Fertilisers UK, has a long and distinguished history of employing local people and developing young talent. That commitment to training young people, which began back in the 1950s, continues to this day and is integral to CF Fertilisers’ talent development and succession planning.
As a local employer for local people, CF recognises that for industry to continue to thrive on Teesside, it has a role to play in developing the next generations of chemists, engineers and operators alongside raising the profile of STEM careers to ensure that as much talent is retained in the region as possible.
To that end, the firm’ s leadership team is fully invested in working with educators to influence and develop young people, to help bridge resource gaps and support STEM teachers and careers staff in realising their Gatsby benchmark responsibilities through engagement with employers- all while sharing the career opportunities and pathways at CF.
Apprenticeships – paving the way in collaboration with TTE The partnership between TTE, part of the Middlesbrough College Group, and CF is longstanding and deeply collaborative. Driven by a shared commitment to excellence and innovation, it leverages the best of what they both offer to develop outstanding apprentices and create meaningful career pathways.
The marriage between CF’ s sector-leading knowledge and experience and TTE’ s specialised training expertise is unrivalled – and with some incredibly talented apprentices already in the pipeline, it’ s a proven model of success.
With electrical, mechanical and maintenance apprentices already in the business, CF is welcoming another apprentice into the laboratory in September 2025.
It’ s also a relationship CF takes great pride in, none more so than when the firm was recently awarded TTE’ s Platinum Award in recognition of its“ sustained dedication to inspiriting future generations and strengthening the local workforce through innovative educational initiatives and industry engagement.”
T-levels – the alternative pathway to A-levels Apprentice, graduate, career changer – there’ s no one fixed pathway into a STEM career. CF is proud to be sponsoring T-level Maintenance students for the 2025 / 26 academic year as part of Middlesbrough College’ s scholarship programme. An alternative to A-levels, learners split their time 80 / 20 between academic learning and real-world learning in the workplace. With all students undertaking a 45-day industrial placement as a minimum, CF looks forward to consolidating its existing relationship with the college and supporting a new cohort of aspiring youngsters on a more vocational journey.
Advisory panels – collaboration is key In recent times, employees from CF have started to sit on several employer advisory panels, including with Middlesbrough College and Atomix Educational Trust.
This two-way sharing of information and knowledge, industry updates and discussions on workplace challenges and real-world requirements among
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