BLOG: Why we’re sponsoring the Apprenticeship Ambassador of the Year Award at the Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Awards

We are proud to announce that we will be sponsoring the Apprenticeship Ambassador of the Year Award at the Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Awards for another year.

As part of our role as the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership it is a priority for us to support the development of skills enabling a highly-trained workforce for the county.

Our OxLEP Skills team work with schools and employers across the county to facilitate careers and enterprise activities helping young people prepare for the world of work.

The Apprenticeship Ambassador of the Year Award is a particularly important one to us as Oxfordshire’s Apprenticeship Ambassadors support the work of our OxLEP Skills team by attending events and taking part in engagement activities to share their apprenticeship experiences with young people.

Having been an Apprenticeship Ambassador myself for almost a year now I know what a rewarding experience this is talking to young people and ensuring they have all the information they need to make decisions about their future.

The role of the Ambassadors is to go into schools and careers events and talk about why they decided to take the apprenticeship route how they got their apprenticeship and what they do as part of their day-to-day role. This is done in various different ways ranging from human libraries speaking to a couple of individuals to addressing whole year groups in school assemblies. 

This work is essential to inspire and inform the next generation of apprentices.

Last year’s joint winners of the Apprenticeship Ambassador of the Year Award were Olivia Buckingham Youth Work and Community Development Apprentice at Oxford City Council and Mat Thomas Electrical Apprentice at Darke and Taylor (pictured).

The previous awards – held earlier this year in The Orangery at Blenheim Palace –  also helped to recognise the outstanding contributions of apprentices and their employers in Oxfordshire.

Next yearthe awards will be held at Jurys Inn Oxford on Thursday 4 April. Nominations for the awards opened earlier this week.

Make your nomination now at www.oxfordshireapprenticeships.co.uk/awards 

Leona Weston – PR and Communications Apprentice