Business leaders, apprentices and education providers came together yesterday (23 October) for the Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Awards 2020 launch, part of an Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP) apprenticeship Q&A and skills forum.
The launch event – held at the Sadler Building at Oxford Science Park and led by OxLEP Skills – saw previous winners, potential 2020 award applicants and key players from across the Oxfordshire skills ‘landscape’ come together to discuss the success of apprenticeships and some of the challenges businesses may face in offering them.
That's Oxfordshire TV report on the launch event (24 October)
Titled: ‘Apprenticeships – working for you’, the breakfast event saw a guest panel share their experiences and advice on apprenticeships alongside a question and answer session, as well as the official awards launch.
The Q&A featured guest panellists; Sarah Jaycock - Executive Director of High Spec Composites, Nairne Barker - Administrative Support Officer at Oxfordshire County Council and Oxfordshire Apprentice of the Year 2019, Richard Byard - Director of Business Development at OxLEP, Jacqui Canton - Deputy Principle at Abingdon & Witney College and Clive Shepherd - Apprenticeships Manager at University of Oxford.
The event launch saw the following 12 awards categories announced:
- Intermediate Apprentice of the Year - sponsored by Abbott Diabetes Care
- Advanced Apprentice of the Year - sponsored by Nielsen
- Higher Apprentice of the Year - sponsored by Blenheim
- Special Recognition Award - sponsored by Popham Hairdressing
- Shining Star Award - sponsored by Integration Technology Ltd
- Apprenticeship Ambassador Award - sponsored by Oxford Brookes University
- School Award - sponsored by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Work Experience Employer Award - sponsored by OxLEP Skills
- Apprenticeship Employer Award (<10 employees) - sponsored by University of Oxford Print Studio
- Apprenticeship Employer Award (<50 employees) - sponsored by The Burnside Partnership
- Apprenticeship Employer Award (50+ employees) - sponsored by Clarkson Evans
- Overall Apprentice of the Year - chosen by headline sponsor High Spec Composites
Next year’s Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Awards will be taking place at Williams F1 Conference Centre on Thursday 2 April. It follows the success of this year’s event, which saw around 150 people attend the awards at Jurys Inn Oxford.
Nigel Tipple – Chief Executive of OxLEP – said: “The recently-launched Oxfordshire Local Industrial Strategy lays out the priority to set clear pathways for young people to develop the skills needed to secure future employment opportunities.
“Many Oxfordshire businesses are committed to creating apprenticeships, seeing them as a positive way of developing a highly-trained workforce for the future – through the 2020 awards, we hope to engage even more businesses.
“Discovering young talent through apprenticeship schemes can help businesses to ‘stay ahead’ of competitors and – in-turn – support young people to gain great qualifications too.”
Completed entries and nominations must be returned by email to [email protected] by midnight on Monday 13th January 2020.
