Newbury College held its annual apprenticeship awards on Tuesday 06 March, celebrating the event with a gala dinner in its very own training restaurant. Organised to coincide with National Apprenticeship Week (NAW), apprentices, employers and College staff came together to recognise the achievements, hard work and commitment of all those involved with its apprenticeship programme.
Host for the evening was newly-appointed Principal and CEO, Iain Wolloff. The aim of our awards ceremony is to help promote apprenticeships as a fantastic pathway to many different careers, explains Iain. The variety of employers who attended our event last night shows that apprenticeships provide a great way for businesses to nurture new talent and each had a different success story to share.
All of the nominees are shining examples of the ethos behind apprenticeships and we congratulate them all on their success. We hope that by highlighting their achievements at our award ceremony it inspires others to follow suit, and we encourage all those thinking about their next career move, or their options after school, to investigate the potential apprenticeships have to offer.
The award winners on the night were:
Best Apprentice in a Small Business ' Jose Fernandez De La O, Strawberry Hill Medical Centre
Best Apprentice in a Medium Business ' James Cooper, The Vineyard Group
Best Apprentice in a Large Business ' Andrew Haysom, Xtrac
Best Assessor Award ' Yvonne Pomeroy, Newbury College
Best Workplace Mentor Award ' Bernadette Lloyd, Charles Lucas Marshall
The Nick Carter Award for Outstanding Contribution ' Simon Bunce, Williams
Commenting on his award, Apprentice Finance Assistant at The Vineyard Group, James Cooper, said: I'm so pleased to have won this award. I put so much effort into my AAT course and always try my best at work; it's great to be recognised for what I'm doing.
Yvonne Pomeroy, winner of the Best Assessor Award, said: The success of our apprenticeship scheme here at Newbury College is due to the fantastic working relationships of all those involved who work hard to ensure apprentices receive the best experience from us. I'd like to thank all the employers I work with for their support and engagement, and for offering the apprentices the opportunity to develop their skills in the workplace.
Newbury College holds monthly Apprenticeship Information Sessions, where candidates can find out more about the apprenticeship vacancies on offer. For organisations looking to take on an apprentice, the College has a long history of helping businesses run successful apprenticeship programmes. Contact the Business Team for more information or read one of our case studies at www.newbury-college.ac.uk/apprenticeships
To see the photographs from the event click here.