2023 Apprenticeship Awards

Ryan started off as a very anxious learner with low confidence. He had dropped out of further education as he didn’t feel he was very academic. By chance Ryan saw an opportunity to complete a sports coaching course advertised on social media and decided to give it a go and sign up. His attitude and attendance were excellent and he thrived in this learning environment.

As Ryan’s confidence grew, he progressed through the courses and eventually found his ideal position as a Learning Support Assistant as Ysgol Maes Y Felin. Again, he thrived in this environment and stood out in his role as teaching support.

His workplace mentors speak very highly of him and how he enjoys helping the children in their learning environment. He gained excellent results for his workplace observations and although he struggled sometimes, his academic work developed and progressed to a good standard. Even gaining Level 2 qualifications in Numeracy, Literacy and Digital Literacy alongside his teaching program.

Ryan is now employed at the school and is currently working towards his Level 3 Teaching qualification. He is enjoying the support from his tutors and listens to feedback carefully to further develop himself as a confident and competent individual.

Nyrie had left school in May 2018 to pursue her goal of becoming a teacher and she soon secured a placement at St David’s High School where she got off to a promising start enrolling on to her Level 2 Supporting Teaching and Learning qualification. However, after four months Nyrie decided to look for an alternative placement at a primary school because she didn’t feel the high school was the right setting for her.

Nyrie then gained a placement at Queensferry primary school where she successfully completed her Level 2 & 3 Supporting Teaching and Learning qualification and is a valued member of the team at Queensferry Primary School.

In her role as a Teaching assistant, Nyrie often works with small groups of children who need extra support in literacy or numeracy, this can also include work with children with special educational needs (SEN).

Nyrie completes any relevant training, for example ‘forest school’ training which she completed after her apprenticeship. Nyrie now runs the Queensferry Primary School forest school on a Wednesday with another full-time member of staff. Her future goal is to go to university to complete her PGCE and become a teacher.

Childcare professional Jackie has completed her training exclusively through apprenticeships and has risen to become assistant manager at Springfield Day Nurseries nursery.

At first Jackie was nervous about taking on the Leadership and Management Level 5 qualification and was somewhat lacking in confidence, but as time progressed and Jackie worked her way through the qualification she realised that she did have the knowledge and grew in confidence.

Soon Jackie was offered the role of manager at the nursery; she has been able to put her management skills to good use by supporting all her staff to succeed in their qualifications.

Jackie successfully completed her own qualification and produced an impressive portfolio demonstrating both her knowledge and competence. As part of her qualification she also had to achieve her essential skills at a higher level in both communication, and application of number - she was able to achieve this challenge and overcome her childhood fear of Maths.