Apprentices celebrated at Newark and Sherwood District Council

National Apprenticeship Week is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the several benefits that apprenticeships bring to employers and individuals.

The District Council currently employs 15 apprentices who cover a wide range of job roles from finance and economic growth, to planning services and electricians.

As part of this week’s celebration, the Council has shared stories of its apprentices including Philene Evason-Bacon, Transformation and Service Improvement Graduate Trainee.

Philene said: “My apprenticeship is titled ‘Associate Project Manager’; with this I will hopefully achieve my APM Project Management Qualification with the Heart of England Training provider. It covers around 24 different topics including governance arrangements, risk and issue management and stakeholder engagement and communication. Within this course, I have so far attended 8-day courses discussing different topics, I complete a range of assignments and have regular meetings with my educator. All of which is helping me prepare for my exam and subsequent End Point Assessment.

“With my role specifically, I really enjoy the range of projects I work on, allowing me to work with colleagues from different business areas and gain an insight of the varied work that takes place. In general, I’m extremely grateful for the continued professional and personal growth that I’m consistently developing because of my work in the organisation. This wouldn’t be possible without the opportunities I’ve been given and the continued support from my team and wider colleagues.”

Jamie Pegram has one year left of his four-year apprenticeship in urban planning. He said: “The apprenticeship covers a broad spectrum of planning including policy, urban design, geography, environment and infrastructure and planning for Climate Change. I enjoy my job, every day is a school day but the team are great and everyone helps and makes suggestions.”

After completing his apprenticeship as a Azure Cloud (ICT) Technician, Antony Whyton now works at the district council as a digital projects assistant. He said: “My apprenticeship covered all things for the ICT service desk from speaking to customers and troubleshooting their issues, to upgrading and installing hardware in laptops and desktops for longevity of our equipment.”

If you know someone who may be interested in an apprenticeship with Newark and Sherwood District Council, you can visit its recruitment portal which is regularly updated with the latest vacancies when available. The job portal can be accessed via https://newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk/jobs/.

Councillor Paul Peacock, Leader of Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “Apprenticeships are a fantastic way of providing people of all ages a chance to learn and gain practical skills all while earning a wage.

“It’s a pleasure to see our apprentices grow in confidence and learn new skills. Many of our apprentices have gone on to permanent roles with us and are invaluable to the work we do to serve our residents.”