We take great delight in helping to shape careers and develop our people and are delighted to celebrate National Apprenticeship Week, an annual campaign backed by the government.
This year the theme is ‘Skills for Life, and the week will reflect on how apprenticeships can help individuals to develop the skills and knowledge required for a rewarding career and help organisations to develop a talented workforce that is equipped with skills for the future.
The week-long celebration, starting on 6 February, will shine a light on the fantastic work being done by employers and apprentices across the country.
It will also recognise how employers of all sizes have stepped up to the challenge during tough economic times.
The 16th National Apprenticeship Week will take place across England, encouraging individuals of any age to reach their career goals by building their skills and knowledge through an apprenticeship.
At LiveWest, we appreciate the full value of apprenticeships in helping to set people on their chosen career path.
We currently have 46 apprentices in programmes ranging from Level 2 in Plumbing to Level 7 Senior Leader MBA with a variety of levels and specialisms in between.
Of those 46, 26 are new to LiveWest while the remaining 20 are made up of colleagues upskilling themselves.
There are 23 male and 23 female apprentices and five apprentices are doing either a degree or a masters degree (Level 6 and 7).
During this week we’ll be celebrating some of our great apprentices across LiveWest and hearing more about their journeys and the support they have been given along the way.
Our People Skills Development Adviser, Laura Sanders, said: “National Apprenticeships Week is a great opportunity for us to highlight the amazing progress our apprentices have made during the last year. It is also a time to celebrate the success that our apprentices have achieved.
“It has also been special to be involved in setting up the T-Level programme at LiveWest. Supporting young people with the essential soft skills needed for their future is an honour for us.
“Apprenticeships can be a life-changing experience for many, providing a foundation to build their careers in the future.
“There is still a stigma surrounding apprenticeships, which this week will help dispel. By sharing our apprentices’ stories, we can showcase that you don’t have to be a school leaver at the start of your career to sign up to an apprenticeship. An apprenticeship is for anyone at anytime of their career.
“At LiveWest, we have taken positive steps to ensure our apprentices are able to continue their studies and get that vital practical experience needed to complete their apprenticeship.
“This week is a chance to focus on how our apprentices, of all ages and backgrounds, across LiveWest are helping to improve the organisation and our customers’ lives.”
Francis Harvey secured a Physics Degree from Keele University but had a burning ambition to pursue a practical career.
The gas engineer apprentice said: “A few of my friends work for LiveWest and they really recommended them as an organisation.
“I was working in a coffee shop and not really going anywhere. So I did a part-time plumbing course and I knew that was the career I wanted to follow.
“The work is really interesting and varied and you are going into customers’ homes every day and improving the quality of their lives.
“I have had lots of support from LiveWest and I am really enjoying it all.”
Toby Luce has joined our Renewable Technologies team as an apprentice after trawling the internet for an opportunity.
Toby said: “It is a great team to be part of as we are helping customers reduce the cost of their energy bills through renewable technologies.
“LiveWest has been great and helped me through every stage of the journey. Everyone has been great.”
Lauren Ward, 25, joined LiveWest in March 2017 as an apprentice and her first role was in Learning and Development.
Her next role was to work in the defects team within development after that, she joined the Communications team and helps to shape internal content for the organisation.
She has now successfully completed a Level 6 apprenticeship in Digital Marketing which has given her the equivalent of a bachelor’s Degree.
Lauren said: “I wanted to do some further studying as I was an overall coordinator, so I wasn’t specialised in any area, that’s when I enquired about doing another qualification and that’s when we found the level 6 which suited me and the business.
“It’s been challenging as level 6 is a jump from before and doing it under university there was a lot of extra workload both throughout the three years but also assignment wise as it was a full-time degree alongside full-time work.
“My best moment would be knowing that I received high grades throughout. So, I was proud of myself for that. And probably the amount of work I put in and how the outcome showed that.
“I've received amazing support from LiveWest, from my manager, but also other managers in the team. I get twenty per cent off the job hours to study, which I always had and any additional time when it was assignments, I was able to have support with that.”
Fin Walker arrived at LiveWest as a 16-year-old eager to pursue a career in the construction industry and train as quantity surveyor.
He enrolled on a two-year course at Exeter College where he studied Construction Contracting Operations to a Level 3. Fin was then promoted from apprentice to trainee quantity surveyor and enrolled on a four-year part-time degree in Quantity Surveying alongside full-time work which he has now completed.
Fin said: “A degree is something I really wanted to do when I was in school. So, I wanted to go on and study at level three, then go on to do a degree afterwards. But when I saw the opportunity came up to do an apprenticeship, I thought it was a much more efficient way of getting to where I wanted to be.
“I'm just glad that the opportunity to do a degree apprenticeship was there because I believe that learning on the job is very valuable. And the fact that I've been able to earn while I do it, has been massively valuable to my life outside of work.
“Having completed my degree I’m over the moon, it's put me in a really good position in my career, and the skills I've learnt from doing it has massively helped what I do at work. If anybody is interested in a career, whether it be construction or anything else, if they've got the opportunity to do an apprenticeship, I'd advise them to do it.”