GIRL power is firing on all cylinders at BMW’s Mini plant this week.

Eighteen young women from schools all over Oxfordshire are on a four-day visit as part of a drive to attract more females into car manufacturing.

The 15 to 24-year-olds were taken on a tour of the 200-acre site on day one of the Girls Go Technical scheme.

They are finding out how Minis are built, doing a one-day work placement and being given help with CV writing and interview skills.

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Jasmine Catlow and Elaenor Baker-Johnson, both 16, are among those taking part.

Jasmine, who lives near Bloxham and goes to Chipping Norton School, said: “It’s quite exciting, because I really like the robots and the CV process is really helpful. I would like to be an engineer, because I like problem solving.”

Elaenor, a pupil at Witney’s Henry Box School, who lives in Carterton, said: “I’m very interested in physics and want a job in engineering.

“It’s amazing here, a lot bigger than I thought it would be.”

Other schools represented are Magdalen College, Bartholomew, Wheatley Park, Larkmead, St Helen and St Katharine, Cherwell and Our Lady’s.

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  • Jasmine Catlow

The programme is in its second year and part of a Government scheme called See Inside Manufacturing.

Last year BMW was unable to find enough girls to fill all 25 places, but this time around has attracted almost twice as many.

To sign up, girls need four GCSEs at grades A to C, including maths, English and one science subject.

Lucy Healey, a specialist in associate and apprentice training at BMW, said: “The feedback from the girls is that they are really enjoying the opportunity to have some hands-on, practical experience. That’s what they have told us they want but don’t normally have the chance to do. For instance, while they have been here, they have stripped down a motor and rebuilt it under the watchful eye of experienced trainers.”

Four thousand people work at the Oxford Mini plant, including 117 apprentices.

Most are in engineering but there are also traineeships in IT, logistics, finance, business and human resources.

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  •  Elaenor Baker-Johnson

The firm’s next intake will be 30 to 35 apprentices, to be recruited at the start of December.

Simon Farrall, head of apprentice and associate training at BMW Group UK, said: “We found that if you just run a traditional recruitment process, you get almost exclusively boys.

“So, two or three years ago, we decided to do something about it by taking female apprentices and engineering managers on school visits and having pictures of girls in our apprenticeship brochures, but that didn’t work.

“So now we run events just for girls.”

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