WELCOME

Welcome to the National Apprenticeship Week 2020 edition of Achieve. There is no better time to celebrate all that is brilliant about apprenticeships than National Apprenticeship Week. The national theme for the week is Look Beyond, with providers like us encouraged to celebrate the diversity and value that apprenticeships bring to employers, apprentices and communities across England.

The theme ‘Look Beyond’ resonates particularly with Apprenticeships at Salford City College, as we celebrate what is our tenth year of delivering apprenticeship programmes to local people and businesses. Launched in 2009 with a cohort of ten apprentices, the provision has since grown remarkably with over 1,500 apprentices supported in the last academic year. Over the last ten years, Apprenticeships at Salford City Collage have supported over 1,000 businesses and over 5,000 apprentices.

We were delighted to invite two of our first apprentices, Courtney Winstanley and Ashley Gatto, to help us celebrate this exciting ten year milestone. Proudly appearing on the front cover of this edition (and on pages 4-5), both Courtney, now a team leader at Aldi and Ashley, a Digital & Assistive Technology Leader at Eccles Sixth Form College, both hail their apprenticeship as having had a huge impact on their careers.

Amongst a hive of activity and events to celebrate National Apprenticeship Week, the flagship event is our annual Apprenticeship Awards. The awards this year will see over 15 businesses and 40 apprentices recognised for their excellence. Once again, the nominations this year have exceeded expectations, with some amazingly talented apprentices being recognised for their determination and dedication to succeed. The evening will conclude with the announcement of the apprentice of the year 2020, which will be a great accolade for the winner. In reality, every apprentice who successfully completes their apprenticeship are winners.

It is vital we continue to deliver apprenticeship programmes that develop the skills, knowledge and behaviours required by employers. Our recent stakeholder survey once again highlighted high levels of satisfaction from both apprentices and employers. Many of the apprentices stated they were delighted that they are developing skills that will enhance their future career prospects. Equally, our employers expressed their delight that our training meets the needs of their organisation.

Both feedback reports also give brilliant feedback on the quality of our staff. We are very fortunate to have some of the best apprenticeship practitioners in our team, working tirelessly to support their apprentices and employers. To have this recognised by stakeholders is a credit to them all.

DEBBIE WARD ALLAN MILNE

Head of Employer Engagement & Resources

Head of Apprenticeship & Business Development

KAREN KENNY

Head of Apprenticeship Delivery