Here at Advanced we’re passionate about apprenticeships and are extremely proud to have hosted the Smart Apprentices Apprenticeship Awards once again. We have heard some amazing stories from our nominations this year, including from those who have gone above and beyond for the delivery and engagement of apprenticeship programmes. There has been an array of talent, perseverance, and dedication from a plethora of tutors, apprentices, assessors, and employees. We have been overwhelmed with the responses and nominations we received which made the judging panel’s decision immensely difficult.
We wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate all who were involved in this years Apprenticeship Awards, with special mentions to the exceptional achievements of our finalists and of course our winner; Bob Wilkinson.
If you couldn’t join us for the Apprenticeship Awards Ceremony, please read on to experience some of the finalist’s inspiring stories and to learn about out our winner, Bob, and his incredible ability to inspire younger apprentices.
Hear our Finalist’s stories and what inspired us:
Martin Riles at The Sheffield College
Martin Riles, who has been instrumental in developing Functional Skills maths and English within the apprenticeship faculty over the last two years at The Sheffield College. Martin was nominated for has demonstration of exceptional support for his colleagues on a weekly basis. Martin is one of our finalists for the Apprenticeship Awards 2022 because of his perseverance in helping colleagues develop their skills and knowledge to fundamentally ensure that The Sheffield College met internal targets across the board. Well done, Martin.
Richard Vernon at Staffordshire University
We would like to congratulate Richard Vernon on becoming a finalist of the Apprenticeship Awards. Richard has been undertaking a CMDA course whilst facing personal challenges and supporting his family too. Richard has maintained a grade average of 70 which enables his distinction that he has worked so tirelessly to achieve. Despite his personal circumstances, Richard has maintained dignity, grace for his colleagues and has demonstrated a great amount of support for his team during this difficult time. Congratulations Richard.
Olivia Jepson an Apprentice with Academies Enterprise trust
Olivia Jepson has displayed an inspiring amount of positivity and eagerness throughout her apprenticeship. Olivia was a finalist in the Apprenticeship Awards because of her tenacity and enthusiasm in her work throughout the pandemic. She works with children with SEN and demonstrates her positive attitude every step of her journey as an apprentice. Congratulations Olivia, keep going the extra mile!
Holly Blake an Apprentice at Unity City Academy
Having only recently left the Academy as a pupil herself, Holly has taken on an apprenticeship as a Teaching Assistant and is now a highly valued member of staff. In only a few months Holly has made this exceptional transition and has thrown herself into every task she’s been given. Having already completed 40% of her coursework, Holly is making the effort to put in the extra hours where she can educate herself and learn material previously missed, due to Covid inhibiting her experience in her last few years of education. Congratulations on your status as a finalist in the Apprenticeship Awards Holly, and best of luck in your journey as a Teaching Assistant.
Letitia Herring at Kirklees College
Letitia was nominated for this award for her exceptional duty of care towards her apprentices, employers, and colleagues. Having taken control of the induction programme at Kirklees College, Letitia works with her team to make further developments to the programme and is always reflective towards their success and setbacks. In Letitia’s nomination, we particularly noted her enthusiastic work drive and her ability to provide a standard of excellence and devotion to her role as tutor of the Customer Service course. As a result of this it’s fantastic to see that Letitia is continually delivering high quality achievement results for apprentices, consistently keeping grades high. Congratulations on your nomination as a finalist Letitia.
James Southam at St Helen’s Primary Academy
James has showed fantastic tenacity and devotion to his apprenticeship at St Helen’s Primary. Throughout the pandemic he was first point of contact for the school and often was faced with the challenges of organising, dealing with absences and most admirably being able to work with his own initiative when his line manager had covid. In addition to these challenges, James faced working throughout covid with the added aspect of the Academy being without the face-to-face joys of activities that come with working in a school, such as interacting with the children and facilitating their in-person learning. As a well-respected member of the staff at St Helen’s Primary who is instrumental in the smooth running of the Academy, we’d like to congratulate James for his nomination and status as finalist. Keep up the fantastic work!
Stacey Newlyn, Business Administrator Southwest Essex Community Education Trust
Stacey has thrown herself headfirst into every opportunity available in her daily operations with SWECET. Her newly established role as an apprentice has evolved as she has grown with it and Stacey has not only set a standard for apprenticeship roles to come, but she has gone above and beyond in immersing herself as a member of staff within this community. Stacey has secured herself a promotion and permanent new job role as Finance Business Assistant and we want to congratulate Stacey on this fantastic achievement! Showing fundamental efforts in her devotion and enthusiasm towards her apprenticeship, Stacey’s nomination as a finalist in the Apprenticeship Awards is also a brilliant achievement. Well done, Stacey.
David Devlin, British Army
David was nominated for the Apprenticeship Awards because of his dedication as a mentor to his apprentices completing CMDAs, while still performing the duties of his job to the highest standards. He has been promoted to the highest non-commissioned rank possible. The knowledge, experience, and wealth of support David provides his apprentices and colleagues is exceptional, he is held in high regard by all in the unit and across the brigade and is seen as a leading example. David’s devotion, work ethic and leading attitude is laudable, and we are delighted to congratulate David on his nomination as a Finalist in the Apprenticeship Awards 2022.
Amy Shirley UHNM
Amy was nominated for the Apprenticeship Awards 2022 because she has delivered excellent care and devotion to her apprenticeship despite working for the NHS during a global pandemic. Amy has admirably juggled her job, motherhood, and the added academic pressures of taking on an apprenticeship. She continues to deliver high levels of contributions within the workplace, her learning environment and was suitably nominated as spokesperson for the course as a student representative. Amy has balanced her challenges with dedication, care and compassion where appropriate, and has exceeded her own expectations within her academic success. We’d like to take the opportunity to congratulate Amy on obtaining distinctions in her academic modules and for her status as Finalist in the Apprenticeship Awards.
Helena Baxter Apprenticeship Programme Lead – Walsall Council
Helena was nominated for the apprenticeship awards because of her dedication to finding the right training providers that met the needs of Walsall Council. She has contributed to the maintenance of a high-quality delivery of apprenticeships for the employees. Helena has built a successful apprenticeship programme and is really making a difference to local people’s lives. Well done Helena on the payoff of all your hard work, and congratulations on being a finalist for the Apprenticeship Awards 2022.
Di Harvey Mid Kent College
Di Harvey is a finalist of the Apprenticeship Awards 2022 because she has continued to diligently support all young apprentices from home during online-learning and lockdowns. She has supported IT and Technical issues whilst still delivering outstanding lessons which are inspiring and encouraging learners. Di has maintained an almost 80% pass rate across the board, a phenomenal achievement! Congratulations Di.
Mohit Basson Mid Kent College
Mohit has been awarded finalist status of the Apprenticeship Awards because of his perseverance when faced with challenges. When not given the opportunity to engage in the full scope of learning availability, Mohit arranged his own learning and sought to gain the knowledge and skills he felt were valuable elsewhere. We loved learning that Mohit has been taking the opportunity to pass on skills and knowledge he has learnt to other apprentices. Congratulations Mohit.
Major Jeffery (Sean) Meneer – British Army
Sean has somehow managed to adjust his already full diary to mentor and support his apprentices, taking the time to help them achieve distinctions and complete their CMDAs. Sean’s ability to aid deeper understanding and engagement of the valuable skills and experience to learn throughout an apprenticeship has had a direct impact on his colleagues and subordinates. Despite often being away on deployment Sean has delivered an excellent standard of mentoring. Congratulations on your status as finalist in the Apprenticeship Awards Sean.
Winner of the 2022 Apprenticeship Awards.
Congratulations Bob Wilkinson, the winner of the Apprenticeship Awards 2022.
At 72, Bob is still delivering apprenticeships and has been involved across many curriculum changes through his years in the industry. Loved by all his learners and colleagues, Bob has flown the flag for the printing industry for many years, seeing hundreds of learners achieve in their apprenticeships through his own hard work and motivational support. As a fantastic role model, his loving-life motto, and inspirational attitude, we’re honoured to present Bob as this year’s Apprenticeship Award winner.
Bob’s dedication to not only delivering apprenticeships, being a product of one himself, but also to the printing industry has been remarkable. Bob also ran a teacher’s association for tutors in print and worked on the development of learning programmes over the years with GQA qualifications and City & Guilds.
“Bob is a guiding star with a wealth of experience for us here at Learn2Print. If anyone needs to know something, we ask Bob! The learners think the world of him, the staff think the world of him, and he is simply one of those characters that drive other staff on when things become difficult. His energy and attitude are infectious”
Jonathan Bray- Bob’s colleague at Learn2Print
Congratulations Bob. The inspiration, motivation and support you provide the younger generation of apprentices is truly admirable and we’re delighted to have you as the Apprenticeship Awards Winner of 2022.
A final congratulations to all our nominations for this year’s Apprenticeship Awards, we’ve loved hearing all your inspiring stories. Well done.
