from left to right: Michelle Wood, Group Head of Learning and Development at Sanctuary Group, Mark Eden, Director of Work Based Learning, Pershore College, Peter Husband, Group Deputy Principal, Apprenticeships, HE & Innovation for WCG, Angellica Bell, BBC TV presenter and awards host
The awards, organised by Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership and Worcestershire County Council, was of one of twenty five given to the county’s best apprentices, apprenticeship employers, schools and training providers at glittering ceremony held at West Midland Safari Park.
This award, sponsored by housing association Sanctuary Group, was given to a training provider which excels in its contribution to Worcestershire Apprenticeships through its drive to increase provision to meet the local area needs, improve quality and success rates, maintain good partnership working and promotion of apprenticeships to young people, schools and employers.
Pershore College delivers a wide range of apprenticeship training to over 300 apprentices working with more than 100 employers in the Worcestershire area. The renowned horticulture college is part of WCG, a group of seven further education and specialist colleges based in Warwickshire and Worcestershire and is one of the largest training providers in the West Midlands.
The award was given in recognition for its work in the delivery of a range of land based apprenticeships in horticulture, landscaping, arboriculture and agriculture since the UK government implemented a range of significant reforms to apprenticeship funding, what they contain and deliver.
Judy Chadwick, Worcestershire LEP Skills Lead, said: “Pershore is a specialist college with a distinctive horticulture heritage. The combination of state-of-the-art teaching laboratories alongside traditional agricultural engineering workshops means it plays a key role in the advancement of the essential land based sector skills that the Worcestershire region needs to economically prosper. I congratulate the apprenticeship team on winning this well-deserved award.”
Mark Eden, Director of Work Based Learning, Pershore College, said: “I feel very proud to have the opportunity to accept this prestigious award in recognition of all the hard work the work based learning team at Pershore have invested in their apprentices over the last year.
“We take pride in having excellent industry knowledge which enables us to offer the flexibility to design apprenticeships to meet the specific needs of the employers we are working with. In recent years we have increased our capacity to deliver to both large and small employers alike and have been one of the first colleges to offer the new apprenticeship standards across the land based sectors.
“The apprenticeship landscape has changed considerably and the Pershore team have been at the forefront of these, adopting and developing apprenticeship standards to support the local and national employer base.”
For further information about training and land based engineering apprenticeship opportunities at Pershore College go to www.wcg.ac.uk/engineeringapprenticeships or call 0300 456 0047.
