Apprentice Gets The Chance To Shadow Councillor

Steph and Councillor Tom Bewick with
apprentices from Creative Process

Post 16 Team apprentice, Steph Baker, recently had the chance to shadow Chair of the children, young people and skills committee, Councillor Tom Bewick.

This was for the Brathay Apprentice Challenge, of which Steph is part of the team for the Brighton & Hove City Council.

Whilst Steph was shadowing Cllr Bewick they went to Creative Process, a training provider for apprenticeships in digital marketing, media and IT.

Cllr Bewick and Steph heard all about the kind of training that is offered and they spoke to some of the apprentices that were there doing coursework for their qualification.

Steph then asked Cllr Bewick about apprentices and how they benefit the council.

He started by saying that the council has around 50 apprentices but he doesn’t think enough young people, around the 18-25 age range, are being represented. He said the number of apprentices at the council is a good start but they should be doing more and “all areas of the council should have an apprentice.”

When asked what apprenticeship he would do, Cllr Bewick said he would be interested in one in advanced engineering, as he isn’t good with his hands and so would like to improve on this.

Finally, Steph asked what advice he would give to someone just starting their apprenticeship and Cllr Bewick said: “Make sure you are getting the most out of the experience. Don’t be afraid to ask for more challenges and training.

“Remember that your opinion is just as valid as anyone else that works there.”

The Brathay Apprentice Challenge Community Project

The BAC team

The Brathay Apprentice Challenge team have organised to do their community project with Brighton & Hove Foyer.

The Foyer Federation is a not-for-profit organisation that helps to transform the circumstances of young people who have faced barriers in their lives.

 They provide up to 10,000 16-25 year olds per year with mutually agreed, tailor-made programmes which give the young people access to housing, learning, personal development, training and employment opportunities in line with their needs and goals.

Brighton & Hove City Council’s team will be meeting up with young people who get support from the organisation to put on a table tennis tournament for them.

They will also give a talk about apprenticeships, provide advice and answer questions that the people from The Foyer may have.

The team are going to then organise a mentor service for any of the young people who are interested in becoming an apprentice.

This will enable the young person to have a contact, who has gone through the process of writing a CV, applying and starting an apprenticeship, which they can talk to and ask questions about the experience.

The apprentices decided that they should work together with The Foyer for their community project as they can help the young people who come down to the event, but will also be able to help them over the long run by being a point of contact for any who are interested in an apprenticeship.

It will also create a link between The Foyer and Brighton & Hove City Council apprentices, who will then be able to work together in the future.

Council apprentices shadow CEO for the day

Georgia, Geoff & Theo

Two apprentices from Brighton & Hove City Council left their jobs for the day to shadow the Chief Executive of the council.

Georgia Easteal and Theo Duncumb Rogers spent the day with Geoff Raw seeing what it's like to be the CEO of an organisation such as the council as part of the Brathay Apprentice Challenge.

They started their day with a tour of the old police cells museum, which is housed in the basement of Brighton Town Hall.

They learnt all about the history of the police service in Brighton and Sussex, such as the death of Henry Solomon, chief constable of Brighton police in the late 1830s.

After the tour, they returned to the CEO’s office where the two apprentices sat in on meetings, one of which was with representatives from Coffin Mew who were there to speak about, and promote, investment in the city.

Georgia and Theo spoke to Geoff about apprenticeships and what his views were on them.

He started by saying, if he had the chance to do an apprenticeship, he would go for one in creative arts, as he had wanted to go to Art College.

Geoff went on to say that the 18-24 age range is under represented at Brighton & Hove City Council and the demographic makeup of the city should be better represented.

When asked how apprentices have benefited the council, Geoff said: “they bring new energy, new skills and they look at work with a new pair of eyes.”

The CEO said apprenticeships should be available across all areas of council business and he would “Encourage all managers to work hard to bring apprentices in.”

“Why wouldn’t we want to achieve great things?”

If anyone from Brighton & Hove City Council is interested in shadowing members of ELT then get in touch with Lauren Eagle. 

Blatchington Mill Sixth Form College Visit

Apprentice Ambassadors Rachel and Georgia visited Blatchington Mill Sixth Form College to give a presentation to the students about apprenticeships.

They spoke to a group of year 12s about what it's like being an apprentice and apprenticeships at Brighton & Hove City Council.

The presentation was full of information about apprenticeships, the short film that was made by council apprentices and also included an activity where the students had to guess whether facts about apprenticeships were true or false.

It helped to supply a lot of information in an interactive and interesting way.

Overall, it was a successful day as when the ambassadors asked at the beginning how many of the students were interested in apprenticeships, two people put their hands up.

Then by the end of the presentation, 8 people raised their hands and even more took away leaflets about apprenticeships.

Apprentices Host Webinar

Have you thought about hiring an apprentice, would you like to know more?

The Apprentices of Brighton & Hove City Council are hosting a webinar to raise awareness of the benefits of taking on an apprentice. 

They are taking part in the Brathay apprentice challenge and one of the components of this is to engage with businesses to promote apprenticeships.

A team of apprentices from Brighton & Hove City Council will be hosting a webinar to talk about apprenticeships, their experiences with them, and the benefits an apprentice can bring to a company and will also be able to answer any questions you have around apprenticeships.

Date: 27/04/16

Time: 2pm

Link to webinar: http://go.teamviewer.com/v11/m18952965

The Apprentice Roadshow & Graduation 2016

The Apprentice Ambassador's hosted the second Apprentice Roadshow and Graduation on Friday 18 March.

The event featured inspiration speakers, ice breaker games and workshops.

Sue Moorman, Head of Human Resources & Organisational Development, opened the event by welcoming all the guests and speakers.

Apprentice Ambassador, Jamie McFadden, led everyone in some ice breaker games which included bingo based on facts about all the guests there, such as 'Who has a cat' and 'Who learns shorthand'.

The Apprentice Ambassadors

The apprentices heard from a variety of speakers throughout the day, including ones from within the council, such as Cheryl Finella, Economic Development Programme Manager, who spoke about the City Employment and Skills Plan and Glen Jones, Head of Workforce Development, who explained the new Brighton & Hove Learning Gateway.

There were also external speakers, such as Money Advice Plus who provided information on finances and Chief Executive of Love Local Jobs, Gary Peters who spoke about his own experience of leaving school and trying to find work and explained that he set up his website so that he could help young people who are in the same situation as he was.

Pinaki Ghoshal 

The day then came to a close with the graduation, hosted by Pinaki Ghoshal, Executive Director Childrens Services.

The event was attended by apprentices working all across the range of services the council provides and gave them the opportunity to network with each other.

Georgia Easteal, apprentice ambassador and chair of the roadshow, said: "It was a great day! The speakers were really interesting and we learnt so much from the training sessions."

"This was such a brilliant opportunity for all the apprentices to meet up and get to know each other."

Pinaki Ghoshal said: "It's a really good event, and it's great to see lots of young people that have taken a different route of employment and it's worked for them.

"This is a really great event to end apprenticeship week on."

The Graduation