Over the past 2 years I have been completing my Level 3 Laboratory Technician Apprenticeship at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology. 

My role as a services technician includes a wide range of tasks such as making agar plates and media, mycoplasma testing, washing glassware, helping in stores with accepting deliveries, and then phoning the relevant group to collect the packages. During my Apprenticeship I also had opportunities to spend time in different areas of the department including the electron microscope facility, flow cytometry facility and one of the labs in my department which is led by Jordan Raff. I feel so privileged to have been given the opportunity to explore these areas in my department as well as doing my day to day role. 

Natalie Davis, Apprentice Laboratory Technician

Finishing my Apprenticeship... 

It feels so strange to be writing about finishing my Apprenticeship, the past 2 years have gone by so quickly! The Apprenticeship that I completed had two separate grades to it, one of which is the BTEC level 3 in Applied Science in which I got a D*D* (distinction *). Then the overall Apprenticeship grade which was from my end point assessment (EPA) . For me this involved a whole day of being assessed which was an observation of me working and carrying out different tasks, a professional discussion and then a case study test to apply my knowledge. At the end of this day I was very happy with how it went and I was very glad when I found out I had passed overall.

How do I feel now I have finished? 

What I am doing now.... 

I am very lucky in the fact I have been able to keep my same job. The wait to find out whether I was keeping my job seemed like a very long time due to the current pandemic situation but I was very relieved and happy when I found out I had my job still. This has been such a positive end to my Apprenticeship and I am very grateful to still be working here. 

Is there any differences to my job now? 

Well the  obvious difference is that I have a different title which is now ‘Teaching and Services Technician’. Another difference is that I am now part of the Athena SWAN committee in my department, representing the professional support staff. Otherwise my job is exactly the same, just with the added bonus of a pay increase. 

4 years ago when I was in the last year of my A Levels and making that decision whether to go to university, I  never would have dreamed of working at Oxford University. Yet here I am those few years later having completed my Apprenticeship and have a full time job - all at a place I never would have imagined working. 

Read Natalie's case study on our website!

 Apprentice Teya Agnese, in the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology & Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS), was recently nominated in the Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Awards for the 'Intermediate Apprentice of the Year'. We are so pleased that Teya not only managed to win this award, but then went on to receive the overall 'Oxfordshire Apprentice of the Year' Award 2020. This is a huge achievement and so well deserved!

The sponsors of the intermediate award, Abbott Diabetes Care, chose Teya as the winner because, "her enthusiasm for the programme infected the whole department she worked in. Her enthusiasm and passion to do things different and to drive on in the Apprenticeship scheme had really impacted the whole department in a positive way".

The sponsor of the overall Apprenticeship Award, High Spec Composites, chose Teya as the overall winner. They also said: "[Teya's] application really did stand out to us because she goes above and beyond in her role." They also mentioned the fact that Teya has designed and implemented her own blog which really helps to spread awareness and benefits of Apprenticeships to a wider audience.

We asked Teya how it felt to win both the intermediate award and then the Oxfordshire Apprentice of the Year award...

"I felt over the moon to have won the Intermediate Apprentice of the Year, so when I kept watching and High Spec Composites announced at the end of the broadcast that I had also won Oxfordshire Apprentice of the Year too I was speechless… and (as my family and I were watching the broadcast of the awards ceremony in the kitchen) I leaped off of my chair and did a little celebratory dance with them. I feel so honoured to have made it this far in my apprenticeship, and I am truly grateful to have such a supportive team by my side".

The Awards took place online, on Thursday 1 October and can be viewed on OxLEP's Youtube page. 

You can also see a full breakdown of the award winners on the Oxfordshire Apprenticeships page.

Teya recently won the '2nd year Apprentice Award' at our own University of Oxford Apprenticeship Awards in March. See more about this on our blog post.

Read more about Teya's Apprenticeship story on our website. Read the case study here!

07/10/2020

We are thrilled to announce that for the second year running, the University of Oxford has placed within the Top 50 for Rate My Apprenticeship’s Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers Table 2020-21! 

We are really proud of this achievement - particularly as the table is based solely on honest reviews from some of our fantastic apprentices across all departments and divisions. Our apprentices contribute so much and we are really pleased that they see the University as one of the top Apprenticeship employers.

The Rate My Apprenticeship awards celebrate the outstanding achievements of apprentices, schools & colleges, employers and training providers in Apprenticeships. To find out more, visit: https://www.ratemyapprenticeshipawards.co.uk/

Ellie Knight, Finance Division

We asked Ellie a few questions about her Apprenticeship...

Millie Thompson, Graduate Accommodation

What is your job role and Apprenticeship? How long have you been in it?

I started my apprenticeship with the Graduate Accommodation team doing a level 2 Business Administration course. I finished this course in January and started a HNC in Construction Management in April. I mainly work alongside my manager Shelly who is the Clerk of works for Graduate housing meaning I’m involved with lots of maintenance issues. 

How has your job role changed since lockdown?

It’s been an adjustment since lockdown due to a lack of technology and also bringing in new and important procedures that all of our team need to adhere to.

Are you enjoying your new set up? Have there been many challenges?

So far, working from home has proved challenging but working as a team has always made it successful!

How has your Apprenticeship training changed?

All of my teaching has moved to webinars via google hangout. This has been difficult for me as I started mid lockdown meaning I have had to adapt to learning and working remotely.

What are you looking forward to most when things return to (the new) normal?

I’m looking forward to going back to the office and seeing my team. My job often requires me to go out to our sites which is something I enjoy about my apprenticeship.

Freya Cooke, Engineering Science

"When the lockdown began and our manager told us we all had to start working from home I was a bit worried as I had never had to do anything like this before. Luckily I have a desk in my room so I was able to bring my monitor, laptop, keyboard and mouse home, so I could keep things as normal as possible. At first it was quite a big change and a shock as our office was still very paper based. We quickly had to change the way we were working and have documents such as invoices and credit notes saved electronically on the shared drive so that we could all see them. As I work in a finance department I am quite lucky as most of the work I do is online and can be done from my home, the only real difference is not seeing my colleagues every day. Microsoft Teams has been a big help during this lockdown, being able to quickly ask my colleagues a question or have Team video calls to catch up. Teams has also enabled me to undertake some training that I would usually have to complete in a classroom with our training team. This was really useful as I needed to complete some training so I can help assist with journaling the credit card costs.

Although at first I wasn’t keen about working at home I think it has really helped me to become more organised, and appreciate the help I receive from everyone in my office.

I think that when things go back to normal it will be a ‘new normal’. We have discovered many things during this lockdown and have found ways of overcoming challenges that we never thought we would be able to do."

     - Freya Cooke, Apprentice Finance Assistant

Oscar Cherrill, Finance Division

"My experience working from home at central finance has been quite varied.

On one side I am continuing work as part of the payments team for two days of the week, where we have had to adapt to the constraints of remote working. Before lockdown happened, we relied heavily on using physical copies of everything, from receiving post to filing away documents. In the absence of this we have had to build a system of working that uses the shared drive to simulate our day-to-day roles, while allowing us to work seamlessly together as a fairly large team. While the quantity of work may have decreased over time, the challenge of approaching this new style of work has made many jobs take a lot longer.

On the other hand, I have been taking part in testing with the FSSC on the ‘Upgrade to SplashBI Reporting’ project for two days a week. In contrast this work is purely online, the lockdown has had no effect on the difficulty of work. The testing involves working alongside and communicating with only a handful of people, a lot of the time I am also working independently. Additionally, the total workload has been completely unaffected by Covid-19, the project has the same timeframe as before."

      - Oscar Cherrill, Apprentice Finance and Accounting Technician