University of Oxford Apprentices: December 2015

The University of Oxford's Apprenticeship Awards 2015 - Round Up

For the second year in a row Wadham College played host to the University of Oxford's Annual Apprenticeship Awards.

Clive Shepherd, Apprenticeship Manager and Dr. Stephen Goss, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Personnel and Equality highlighted the years many successes for all apprentices and managers across the university. With 50 apprentices to be in recruitment before the end of 2015 the turn out for the award ceremony was tremendous.

The standard for the awards this year was, once again, very high with around 20 of our apprentices and manager nominated for awards. The nominees and winners are as follows:

Intermediate Level Apprentice Award

Apprentice who has shown outstanding achievement and progress

Nominated for this award were: Ellie Haugh, Beatie Kirkby, Lee Singleton and Laura Wilkins

Winner: Laura Wilkins

Apprentice Administration Assistant, IT Services

Nominated by: Kathryn Wenczek (Line Manager)

"Laura has been a joy to work with, consistently demonstrating a high level of initiative and problem-solving abilities. She has been proactive in helping to make the Digital Humanities at Oxford Summer School a resounding success.

In her first year she has demonstrated an excellent attitude towards all of her departmental and college work. She is diligent, conscientious and is always willing to learn. She has taken full advantage of the opportunities offered by her apprenticeship and has become a “buddy” for a new apprentice in our department. In the longer term I am certain she will become a valuable asset to any team within the University."

Advanced Level Apprenticeship Award

Apprentice who has shown outstanding achievement and progress

Nominated for this award were: Alison Franklin, Emily Joyce, James King, Daniel Pull, Ben Sumner, Aston Tyrell and Ellie Turner

Winner: Ben Sumner

Apprentice IT Officer, Saïd Business School

Nominated by: Mark Bramwell (Line Manager)

"Ben has quickly established himself as a cornerstone of the IT Help Service, and in doing so was recently a centre point of the launch of the new, highly visible and customer facing SBS IT Tech Bar for which Ben has been instrumental in its success.

Ben has quickly established himself as a valuable, confident and trusted member of the team, who is able to self-manage his work, complete tasks without supervision and act as a role model to other IT Officers. Such is the level of trust and confidence he has built with his customer base that many will personally ask for Ben or wait for his assistance."

Apprenticeship Mentor and Supervisor Award (nominated by the apprentice)

Manager who has shown outstanding support for their apprentice in the preceding year

Nominated for this award were: Jamie Long, Nienke van Gemert and Gary Walker

Winner: Jamie Long

Workshop Manager, Department of Earth Sciences

Nominated by James King (Engineering Apprentice)

"Obviously starting a new job can be quite nerve wracking, but Jamie made sure I was made to feel welcome, from day one I have enjoyed the job I do. Not many people can say that!

I feel proud of what a produce in the workshop and this is all down to Jamie’s teaching. No matter how busy it is I can always ask Jamie for a hand or a bit of knowledge and instead of giving me a simple answer he will explain and make sure I fully understand what I have asked about. As I progress through the apprenticeship I feel Jamie will give me more responsibility as I gain more experience from him."

Apprenticeship Poster Award

Awarded to the apprentices who best showcased their work

Entered for this award were: Alison Franklin, Grace Parson and Daniel Pull (All 3 posters were displayed in the dining room)

Winner: Daniel Pull

IT Network Apprentice, IT Services

"Daniel performs many important duties and contributes directly to the day-to-day responsibilities of the team which include: Network installations and monitoring, incident response, fault-finding, communications management and reporting problems. Daniel helps to set up key network equipment including switches, wireless access points, firewalls, network monitoring tools and UPSs.

The judging panel felt that Daniel’s poster showcased the depth and type of work that he undertakes in his Apprenticeship and that the poster would inspire young people’s interest in a University Apprenticeship."

Apprenticeship Manager’s Award

Recognising people who have made an outstanding contribution to promoting Apprenticeships across the University

Nominated by: Clive Shepherd (University Apprenticeships Manager)

Emma Reed: "Emma is an HR Advisor in the Saïd Business School and a long-time supporter of Apprenticeships. Emma is a key part of the team that saw the SBS lead the way, recruiting 8 apprentices in 2013/14 across a range of disciplines. Last year Emma conducted some original research into the use of apprentices by business with a particular emphasis on the employer’s perspective. Emma is serving on the Apprenticeship Development Group and has been a source of support, information and expertise for the current Apprenticeship Manager for which he is more than grateful. Her long term commitment to the promotion of University Apprenticeships is recognised by this award."

Wendy Simmonds: "Wendy is the HR Manager for IT Services. Through her support and guidance she has promoted the development of exciting and ground breaking Apprenticeship opportunities across IT Services. They now have 4 apprentices covering a wide range of disciplines supporting their education and HR sections as well as networking and information security functions. Testament to the quality of their Apprenticeships is the fact that two of them receive awards at this ceremony.

Wendy also serves on the Apprenticeship Development Group and has long demonstrated her commitment to promoting, supporting and developing real opportunities for apprentices across her department and the University as a whole. This success is recognised by this award."

Special Apprenticeship Ambassadors Award

For inspiring people with the potential of Apprenticeships

Sophie Jamieson: Sophie is an Apprentice Laboratory Technician with the Nuffield Department of Medicine

Emily Joyce: Emily has been an Apprentice Administration Assistant with Physics for 3 years having completed this month.

"Nothing is as powerful as the experiences of committed, intelligent and eloquent apprentices when we try to promote the benefits of Apprenticeships to employers and young people.

Sophie and Emily both volunteered for the Oxfordshire Apprentices Ambassadors programme, undertaking training in presentation and other related skills. Both have represented the University at events like careers fairs, awards ceremonies and outreach projects and have been outstanding ambassadors for both the University and Apprenticeships in general"

Apprentices who have completed their Apprenticeships I this year and receiving their certificates are:

Emily Joyce:

Has successfully completed a Business Administration Apprenticeship in the

Department of Physics

Eleanor Turner:

Has successfully completed a Business Administration Apprenticeship at the

Saïd Business School

Nicole Cunningham

Has successfully completed a Finance & Accounting Apprenticeship at the

Saïd Business School

Samuel Davies

Has successfully completed a Mechanical Engineering Apprenticeship in the

Department of Engineering Science

Kathryn Scott

Has successfully completed a Business Administration Apprenticeship in the

Department of Engineering Science

There were also special recognitions that went out to Alison Franklin and Beatie Kirkby who look after the University of Oxford Apprentices Facebook page and Sophie Bebb who manages this blog!

This year's ceremony was a great success, we look forward to seeing you all again, plus the 150 new apprentices who will be joining the university next year!

Please scroll down to see lots of fantastic photos taken at the ceremony.