Wigan & Leigh College recognised the contribution from employers and apprentices at a prestigious awards ceremony.
The Apprenticeship Awards evening was held at the College’s Parsons Walk conference centre on 19th April and included a keynote speech from former BBC’s The Apprentice finalist Adam Corbally.
A range of awards were handed out to outstanding apprentices to acknowledge their contributions and achievements at their
particular placements.
Wigan Council won the Public Sector: Commitment to Apprenticeship award with Sarah Hulme and Alison Hatch receiving the accolade.
Assistant Apprenticeship Coordinator, Sarah Hulme said: “We have a great relationship with the College who help us identify what we need.We as an organisation see the benefit of hiring apprentices as it provides a chance to grow our own.It’s also a great way to shape a person and develop them into roles.”
Wrightington, Wigan & Leigh (WWL) NHS Foundation Trust won the Innovation Award as a result of their support of apprentices through their ‘grow your own strategy and clinical care initiative’
Learning and Development Manager, Anne Forrest from WWL NHS Foundation Trust added:“Including apprentices in our workforce is key to us being able to support local people to gain the skills to work in the NHS and become qualified in all kinds of jobs.We have fabulous apprentices who come to the College.”
Guest speaker Adam Corbally, entertained the audience with an inspirational presentation about how he turned his life around and appearing as a finalist on The Apprentice TV show.
Adam is a believer that apprenticeships are a fantastic opportunity allowing for opportunities into a lot of different sectors, gaining real experience and qualifications and getting to earn some money.
Daniel Swanton is an apprentice at Allied Infrastructure and was delighted to win the Professional Apprentice of the Year category.
He said: “I am overwhelmed as I wasn’t expecting to win. My apprenticeship has opened up so many different paths and more training opportunities and I’d recommend it to anyone. My career prospects have definitely been improved.”
Anna Dawe, Principal added: “As the largest college provider of apprenticeships in Greater Manchester, we were delighted to welcome all the nominees to celebrate their outstanding contributions.
“We have created many fantastic working relationships and we work with over 1,500 employers in the local area offering over 50 different apprenticeship pathways.”
Full list of winners:
Public Sector: Commitment to Apprenticeships – Wigan Council
Public Sector: Innovation Award – Wrightington, Wigan & Leigh NHS Foundation Trust
Medium and Small Employer of the Year – Active Case Management
Construction Apprentice of the Year – Will Newbury
Engineering Apprentice of the Year – Patryk Potrapeluk
Care Apprentice of the Year – Jean Fletcher
Professional Apprentice of the Year – Daniel Swanton
Service Industries Apprentice of the Year – Jiraporn Jolley
Traineeship of the Year – Sarah Morris
Intermediate Apprentice of the Year – Nathan Davies
Advanced Apprentice of the Year – George Comins
Degree Apprentice of the Year – Thomas Weeder