Our aims

Four things we’re trying to change.

Too many young people get turned away before they even reach an interview — by forms, not by ability. Here’s what we do about it.

214
young people placed
81p
of every pound reaches them
4
aims we hold ourselves to
01

Give you the confidence to apply

We ask what you've done and what you're curious about. Not your grades.

How we measure it
How many applicants tell us they felt confident enough to apply.
02

Teach you real skills

You spend real time with a real engineer, using real tools. Paid, not squeezed into a lunch break.

How we measure it
Hours of hands-on training in every placement.
03

Show you that you belong

Everyone who applies talks to someone who already does the job. Proof, not a pep talk.

How we measure it
Every applicant matched with a mentor who started somewhere similar.
04

Turn placements into careers

We train our partner firms to hire for curiosity, not certificates. And we stay in touch after the placement ends.

How we measure it
How many placements lead to a job, apprenticeship, or more training.
A young person who can already do the work should never be filtered out by a form.
That sentence is the whole charity. Everything on this page is a way of holding ourselves to it, and everything we publish is meant to be checkable.
How we got here

Four years, in short.

22
2022 — Started with one workshop
Rolly's Runway began as a single Saturday club in a borrowed garage, built around one idea: ask what someone's made, not what they've certified.
23
2023 — First paid placements
We matched our first cohort with employers willing to hire on story alone. Every one of them was paid — that was the line we wouldn't cross.
24
2024 — Mentor network opened up
Engineers started signing up faster than we could vet them. We built a proper safeguarding process so growth didn't outrun care.
25
2025 — Programmes for under-16s launched
We stopped waiting until 16 to start the conversation. Taster days, build weeks and clubs opened the door years earlier.
Where we’re heading

The next five years, in short.

2
Year 2 — £10k raised, 50+ school trips run
Past £10,000 raised and more than 50 school trips out to real workshops and sites — the base the rest of this gets built on.
3
Year 3 — 20,000+ future engineers reached
Over 20,000 young people reached, and our first work experience and internship placements opened up — so a taster day can turn into real, hands-on time in a workplace.
4
Year 5 — Q&A panels, and a seat at Rolls-Royce's table
Regular Q&A panels with people who came through Rolly's Runway years earlier, and Rolly's Runway a recognised, ongoing part of the Rolls-Royce development programme.
Questions

How we hold ourselves to this.

How do you actually measure any of this?

Every aim on this page has a metric attached, and we report against it in our annual accounts — not just the good news, the shortfalls too.

Who decides which employers you partner with?

A small panel including at least one former placement holder. If a role can't explain what it pays and why in plain language, we don't list it.

What happens if a placement goes badly?

You tell your mentor or us directly, and we step in — that can mean moving you to a different employer, not just noting it down for next time.

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