Region’s excelling apprentices honoured in annual Sheffield City Region awards

Employers and businesses from across South Yorkshire attended the Sheffield City Region Apprenticeship Awards at the Hilton Garden inn, Doncaster, on Thursday, September 23, to celebrate those involved in apprenticeships right across the region.

Not only does winning an award mean recognition for the apprentice, but it’s also a major morale boost for the company and workforce that support the apprentice.

With close to a million active Apprenticeships across England alone, apprenticeship schemes have fast become a route to future employment for thousands of school leavers.

Presenter Jordan Williams took to the stage to reveal the winners from 13 categories.

Winners included Billie-Jo Brook, who took home the Kickstart / Apprenticeship Award sponsored by The Source Academy.

Billie-Jo's Kickstart Placement is with a small organisational development team at Berneslai Homes. She has been offered an extra six months due to her attention to detail and professional can-do attitude along with her willingness to get involved in all projects.

The Covid Hero Award, which recognised apprentices who have adapted to business during the global pandemic, was won by Erin Witton.

Erin works for the Yorkshire Ambulance Service, which, when Covid hit, profoundly changed the way they responded to incidents.

With very little notice, the administration staff were redeployed, and Erin was removed from an office-based role working normal hours.

After a brief period of homeworking, she was deployed to a busy ambulance station working shifts, finishing in the early hours and accepted this upheaval with grace and courage.

Corey Baron, who works at Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, took home the Rising Star award sponsored by Amazon.

He received the award for his exceptional achievements both on a personal and on a work level.

Corey, who suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, initially joined Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council on a Learning Difficulty placement and applied for an apprenticeship in 2018, which wasn’t successful. He persevered, and In October 2019, he obtained an IT hardware, network and telecoms apprenticeship position in IT Services.

Rebekah Birch, who joined law firm DLA Piper in 2019, was named as the winner of the Business and Law Apprentice of the Year award sponsored by JPIMedia.

She received her award for being a real team player and has made a huge contribution to the business by picking up different job roles whilst also completing her own throughout her apprenticeship.

Rebekah said: “In the space of a year, I had experienced different departments like IT, Property and Workplace, Switchboard, Reception etc.

“Not only has this let me experience different ways of working and different types of people and leadership, but it has also helped me to build confidence and skills.”

The winner of the Engineering and Manufacturing Apprentice of the Year category sponsored by United Cast Limited was Ryan Moore.

Ryan initially joined Albion Valves as an Export Sales Coordinator but was later promoted to Export Manager.

Fortunately, he wasn’t furloughed during the pandemic, but he had to quickly change his way of working and learning by using online tools - something he had minimal previous experience of.

The judges were impressed that Ryan achieved his Operations Departmental Manager passing with a distinction. He also volunteered after work delivering food and medicines whilst completing his apprenticeship.

The Intermediate Apprentice of the Year award sponsored by The Education and Skills Consultancy went to Grace Stenson of Smurfit Kappa.

Grace has demonstrated outstanding commitment to her work and study in many areas of the business, including account management, training, project management, marketing and communications, and industry recognition.

In a short space of time, she has taken the lead on important projects and has been recognised at a major annual European Packaging Industry Awards.

Bradley Longford of Henry Boot Construction was named the winner of the Higher or Degree Apprentice of the Year category sponsored by gradconsult.

Bradley joined Henry Boot in 2017 as a Trainee Business and Marketing Assistant and has received his award for being a highly motivated and driven individual who often goes out of his way to promote apprenticeships and the construction industry.

A significant part of Bradley’s role is working with the Employment and Skills Manager attending career events across the region to promote careers in construction.

The Health and Public Service Apprentice of the Year award was given to Roshani Bagnall of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust.

Roshani achieved a distinction in Level 5 apprenticeship in Leadership and Management and was the first member of staff to complete a leadership apprenticeship.

Ann Raw, leadership and management development facilitator, described how Roshani “showed dedication to her apprenticeship and strove for a high degree of quality in all she was undertaking."

Since completing the course, Roshani has been appointed a Clinical Lead Physiotherapist for the Integrated Care Team Therapy at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust.

Stephen Slingsby of ESC Global Limited was named the Mentor of the Year.

This category sponsored by Sheffield Hallam University was open to individuals who have helped and inspired apprentices in the first steps of their careers.

Stephen is a dedicated mentor who supports individuals by sharing his knowledge and time.

One of the apprentices said: “Stepehen is a great mentor and has played a critical role in my personal and professional development by constantly challenging me to learn and grow. He approaches me openly and by sharing his professional knowledge and expertise in the field with me and others, he's helped me recognise and realise my potential."

The SME Employer of the year award sponsored by Doncaster College went to Servelec Healthcare Ltd.

Serverlec Healthcare is a leading provider of digital healthcare software and supplies solutions to the health and social care sectors.

Servelec’s apprenticeship program, Servelec Digital Academy, has benefited the organisation in many ways.

They believe it is important not only to develop the apprentice’s technical skills in software engineering but to give them a wider business knowledge from sales and marketing through to software development.

The Large Employer of the Year award, sponsored by Barnsley College, was won by Auto Windscreens.

Auto Windscreens Apprenticeship Learning Experience programme has been offering school and college leavers the chance to build a rewarding career with a successful business for the last five years.

The winners of the Diversity and Inclusion Award were ESC Global Limited.

They received the award for working hard as an SME to embed their diversity policy into the Apprenticeship recruitment and development programmes and improve their employment offer.

By applying disability confident principles to their apprenticeship programme, they were able to realise the potential and talents of disabled people. They stated that they do not see the disability but an apprentice who brings valuable skills and qualities to the business.

Total Training Provision was named Training Provider of the Year – this category was sponsored by Nocn Group.

Total Training Provision has a clear purpose; to innovate, influence and Inspire others through high quality and purposeful education and training.

They have been extremely fortunate to have been able to grow and prosper during one of the most difficult times in history. No staff were made redundant or furloughed, and as a result of their proactive approach to adapt delivery to remote access, they increased their workforce by 180 per cent.