Referring school leavers for apprenticeships

For our apprenticeship programmes, don’t tell them to leave it to the summer - we can start working with them now to ensure they get the best opportunities when they finish school or college.

We have an extensive programme for students in their final year of school who are contemplating an apprenticeship pathway. Once registered with us, we will invite them in by letter to one of our sector specific open events. At these events, in the evenings or during the day in half-term breaks, students are able to speak to our sector staff to find out more about the options in that sector. They can see the facilities and ask questions. In many cases, they will also be able to talk to previous or current apprentices.

Following the open event, students are then invited into a keep-in-touch or have-a-go activity. These are typically run over half a day during half terms. These are an opportunity for students to sample the industry that they want to work in and meet other people who will be on the same programme. For some sector areas, these events also involve sitting any necessary assessment tests so that we can ensure we are putting them onto the right programme.

During the summer, we will keep in touch regularly with the student both before and after results days to ensure that they have achieved any necessary grade requirements and to inform them of their induction and start dates. Our apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programmes start between August and October.