National Apprenticeship Week
This week is National Apprenticeship Week, a week-long celebration that shines a light on the positive impact that apprenticeships have on individuals, businesses and the wider economy – helping individuals develop rewarding careers, and employers to develop a workforce with future-ready skills.
At St Bart’s we believe that it is important for students to be aware of a range of opportunities available to them when they finish education. This starts in Year 7 when students can talk to apprenticeship providers at our KS3 Careers Fair. Whilst in Year 8 and 9, alongside the Careers Fair, students benefit from a summer term assembly from Further Education providers (such as Basingstoke College of Technology and Sparsholt College), who share information about the apprenticeship routes linked to their courses. In Year 11, alongside our career assemblies, we organise our Post-16 Destinations Fair, which we recently reported on in BartholoNews, and offer one-to-one careers appointments, where further information about apprenticeships can be provided.
Meanwhile, in Sixth Form we have our Apprenticeship Application Group which meets regularly to explore the types of apprenticeships available, to understand what employers are looking for from candidates and to support students with developing the skills required to make a successful application. As part of the programme, students also take part in an apprenticeship support masterclass in partnership with Vodafone held at the Vodafone Headquarters Conference Pavilion.
We are seeing the real impact of these experiences. In recent years, we have had a number of students successfully securing offers on apprenticeships with companies including Airbus, AWE, KPMG, Newbury Building Society and Vodafone. Currently in Year 13, and about to embark on a Level 7 degree apprenticeship program in September, Seb Chapman is one such student. We asked Seb for his thoughts and tips on applying for apprenticeships:
“I started my degree apprenticeship journey at the beginning of Year 13 and have been fortunate enough to receive two offers from the Big 4 accounting firms, Deloitte and KPMG. In Year 12 I was lucky enough to attend the Vodafone apprenticeship workshop which was incredibly valuable in enabling me to develop some key skills that are needed throughout the application process. The application process itself is probably the hardest part of it all! In the initial application to the program it’s important to understand why specifically you want to work for that company. My top tip for the application is to research the company’s values and what they offer and try to use that to convey your interest in the initial application, to try and stand out from the crowd.
After this stage, I went through multiple rounds of online interview tasks and mathematical and verbal reasoning tests. Whilst this may be tricky for the first few times, practice does make perfect. The final stage of my application was the in-person interview and assessment centre, which I believed to be the most enjoyable element of the application process as I got to meet current employees within the business and gain an idea of the company that I would be working for. Overall, I would say to any students looking to follow in my footsteps in applying to degree apprenticeships, to complete lots of research into the company, qualification and role, as well as being yourself and answering questions honestly.
I can’t wait to start my Level 7-degree apprenticeship program in September and would encourage anyone who is thinking of applying to apprenticeships to make use of all the resources that Mr Wilder and other staff have managed to put in place; they provide a really good insight into the application process as well as qualities and characteristics that companies are looking for.” Seb Chapman (Year 13)
The events we will be running for students to celebrate National Apprenticeship Week include:
- An apprenticeship quiz. The link to the quiz will be in the student briefing. There will be a prize!
- A display of apprenticeship information posters and apprenticeship resources in the school library for students to explore.
- An apprenticeship information drop-in on Thursday from 12.10 to 1.10pm in the library. This event is open to any year group. There will be a representative from PathwayCTM careers support service, who specialise in helping students into apprenticeships, available to talk to students.
- PathwayCTM will also deliver an information session on apprenticeships and application tips to our Year 12 as part of their enrichment programme on Thursday.
- “Did you know?” facts about apprenticeships across all our social media platforms this week:
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Encourage your student(s) to get involved by completing the quiz and exploring apprenticeships in the library this week. You can learn more about apprenticeships here and here.