SECTOR FOCUS: SKILLS
Apprentice team in the running for top title
V
irgin Media from Birmingham has been announced as one of the eight finalists of the Brathay Apprentice Challenge 2014.
After three months of competition involving more than 100 teams from the country’s top apprenticeship employers, training providers and colleges, the finalists in the search for the apprentice team of the year were announced at a House of Commons reception. As part of the competition, Virgin Media organised
a community project, in which its apprentices renovated a local community centre that was falling into disrepair.
‘The Brathay Apprentice Challenge offers an enhanced apprenticeship experience’
The team also conducted a number of school visits to talk about the benefits of apprenticeships. Supported by the National Apprenticeship Service,
the Brathay Apprentice Challenge offers an enhanced apprenticeship experience for competing apprentices and tests non-technical work skills such as team building and communication. Virgin Media and the other finalists will continue to raise awareness of apprenticeships and conduct
Virgin Media apprentices selected to take part in the Brathay Apprentice Challenge 2014
fundraising until June where the challenge will culminate in a series of team building, logistical and physical challenges at Brathay Trust’s Windermere headquarters where the apprentice team of the year will be announced on 11 June. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said:
“Apprenticeships are vital to our country’s future. That is why it is so important that we celebrate the achievements of hard-working apprentices across the country. “The finalists of the Brathay Apprentice Challenge
have shown they have the energy, enthusiasm and commitment to be the best they can be, but also to give back to build a better future for Britain.”
Mercato helps put course online
A Birmingham software specialist is helping local schools tackle the skills gap – by binning text books. Jewellery Quarter based Mercato Solutions has stepped in to help the schools with a newly launched project known as the ‘Birmingham Baccalaureate’, which is a resource which is being used as part of normal national curriculum teaching to highlight the skills youngsters will need in order to find employment. The ‘Birmingham Baccalaureate’
was introduced on a trial basis last year, after a growing chorus of complaints from employers that youngsters were leaving school without the skills needed for them to join the region’s workforce. Initially, those studying for the
baccalaureate used a normal textbook and pen and paper to complete course work, but now, the whole project has moved online, following input from Mercato. Mercato’s Steve Bushell said:
“Our mission is to support educators in increasing the number of students that leave with skills businesses are looking for. This makes it far more efficient for everyone concerned.”
MAY 2014 CHAMBERLINK 45
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