The David Nieper Academy, in Alfreton, Derbyshire, has embraced apprenticeships to develop their school team. This approach has earned them the title of Learning Unlimited’s Employer of the Month for June.
The school works in partnership with Learning Unlimited to highlight apprenticeship opportunities to students and also has five teaching assistant apprentices and one business administration apprentice working in the team. The plan is to recruit more apprentices in time for the new academic year.
Kathryn Hobbs, Headteacher at David Nieper Academy said:
“It is wonderful to be recognised as Employer of the Month. It is a real team effort so I will make sure I share this news with everyone at the Academy.
“We’re benefitting hugely from apprenticeships. Recruiting people with the right qualifications and experience was proving quite difficult, so we looked at training our own. We’ve always supported teacher training opportunities within school and from the local community so it made sense to do the same with teaching assistants.
“With apprenticeships, we can give people the right experience to get a good start in their career and it helps to build a team with the skills we need. As the school grows there are likely to be plenty of opportunities to develop within the team for the apprentices.
“Apprenticeships have given us the chance to recruit from a wide age range and we also have a mix of genders which is really beneficial because traditionally, these roles attract a predominantly female workforce.
“We have seen teachers develop from a teaching assistant route. Career progression is important for us and apprenticeships offer people opportunities to experience life working in a school and confirm if it is a career they want to develop further and invest in.”
David Higham, Commercial Director at Learning Unlimited presented the award and said:
“It is clear that this is a school who really value the role of apprenticeships. They promote them to their students and embrace them as a way to grow their own team. Their commitment to training and career progression alongside the development of the academy is something that stands out and is the reason we chose them as Employer of the Month.”
The Government has recently released new guidance to help schools access the benefits apprenticeships. If you would like further help and advice about how apprenticeships could work in your school contact us.