SECTOR FOCUS: SKILLS


Wyre Forest skills development off to a great start


Wyre Forest businesses have been enrolling their employees on to courses at the Academy at Kidderminster which opened last month for 1,000 learners. A series of successful


breakfast meetings and taster events relating to catering, hospitality, fashion, retail, business and entrepreneurship resulted in many organisations making applications to join courses being delivered at the academy and in workplaces.


‘The links we are establishing with local employers will be a real boost for the local industry’


Mustafa Shevket, head of the Kidderminster Academy, said: “The links we are establishing with local employers, coupled with our state-of-the--art facilities will be a real boost for the local industry. “Not only will our learners gain the requisite qualifications to develop their careers, we will also be encouraging them to use new technologies and social media channels to help them deliver customer service, enterprise and best practice for their employers.” The Academy at Kidderminster is a partnership between Birmingham Metropolitan College and Kidderminster College. It will deliver a full range of qualifications in enterprise and entrepreneurship, hospitality and culinary arts, fashion, retail and visual merchandising as well as marketing and professional studies. Facilities include fashion labs, games development and broadcast studios and construction workshops, along with a retail outlet and a restaurant that will be open to the public. Also situated onsite is a Samsung Experience Academy; the first training facility in the UK to deliver qualifications relating to Samsung's Smart flagship products including 3D Smart TVs and hand held devices.


38 CHAMBERLINK OCTOBER 2012


SPONSORED BY: BIRMINGHAM METROPOLITAN COLLEGE


Purnell looks for apprentices


at his restaurants in the city centre. The chef wants 16-24 year olds to apply for an 11


B


week Introduction to Cookery course at South and City College Birmingham, where they will learn the basic principles of professional cookery. Purnell - once an apprentice himself - will mentor the students during the course On completion of the course, Purnell will then choose two of the budding young cooks to become his apprentices. The Birmingham born chef said: “We


have incredible talent in the Midlands, but like with everything we need to dig deep to discover it. I was once an apprentice and I know how hard it is to get an opportunity to get your foot in the door.”


irmingham’s Michelin starred chef Glynn Purnell has teamed up with South and City College Birmingham to search for two apprentices who will work with him


Foot in the door: Mike Hopkins (left), college principal and chief executive, with chef Glynn Purnell


Trainees add up for SMEs


A firm of Burton accountants is proving that apprentices are not just for big business, by taking on its second such employee. Will Simpson has joined The Chartwell Practice, which also employs apprentice Lauren Guyler, who is in the final year of her Association of Accountancy Technicians training. Chartwell partner Frank Startin said: “Small owner managed businesses or SMEs like ours should not rule out the possibility of taking on an apprentice. It’s not just for the big guys! “Apprenticeships have brought focused candidates


into our business providing enthusiasm and fresh ideas for our growing practice. We see this for the long term as a way of growing and training our own people.”


Grants for employing the young


New Chamber patron and skills specialist EOS is hoping a scheme involving government grants will help tackle youth unemployment in the West Midlands. The Solihull based company says that thanks to the ‘Work Programme’, employers can earn £2,275 for each employee they take on in the 18-24 age bracket. The Work Programme, which EOS is delivering across the West


Midlands, is part of the ‘Welfare to Work’ scheme, which was launched last year.


One of the main planks of the


Work Programme is the £2,275 grant, which is paid out for each permanent position created, once an employee has completed a qualifying period. The scheme is available to all business across the private and public sectors. EOS managing director Rod Jackson said: “We are at the


forefront of getting people back into work and our core focus is to get people work-ready and suitably skilled to give prospective employers the right calibre of people they need to grow their business. “The Work Programme is


continuing to gain momentum against the backdrop of a depressed economy, and in just over a year we are delivering hope and jobs to thousands of people in areas of high unemployment.”


The Apprentices: Will Simpson and Lauren Guyler


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