18th September 2015
HR/Finance Director, Maria, and carpentry apprentice, Will Spriggs, were honoured to address the guests at the CITB ‘I’m Backing Apprenticeships’ launch at the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday. Greendale founding Director, Rob Hooker, also went along to support them at what was a very special occasion.
The reception brought together apprentices and employers from across the country to Parliament in order to celebrate the work they do supporting Apprenticeships and to get MPs to support employers and schools through greater engagement in their constituencies to boost Apprenticeships.
The CITB demonstrated how they are backing Apprenticeships through new initiatives and working at a regional and local level across the country working with employers such as Greendale.
Alongside with CITB Board members, representatives from across the industry were in attendance alongside policy makers and training providers.
Also in attendance were Nick Boles, MP for Minister of State jointly for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Education, Henry Bellingham MP, and James Wates, head of CITB.
Maris’s speech focused on:
– The importance of apprentices and the skills shortage faced in the future without training them now.
– Experience & advantage of Apprentices; 25% of current workforce at Greendale joined as apprentices, pointing out that many of these have gone on to be senior SM’s with us.
– Apprentices are eager & keen to learn
– MP’s should help raise profile of apprentices in construction sector as we need to educate the educators. Construction is not just an industry for naughty or less academic students, a perception which is an outdated view but sometimes still heard.
– The wide range of careers within the industry; not just trades but also PM, SM, QS, CM’s.
Will also took to the stand to talk about his experience as a 2nd year carpentry apprentice at Greendale. Will talked about how he did very well academically at school but wanted to train for his future career in a more hands-on trade. Will explained about how during term time he spends one day a week at the local college studying towards his NVQ and diploma level 2. He will then follow on to do his third year at college and achieve his level 3. Will expressed to the guests that he felt education alongside experience is the way forward and allows people to get the most out of time spent while working. He feels that his carpentry apprenticeship will open up many wide and varied opportunities for his future.
Both speeches were heartfelt, inspiring and informative, and hit a cord with all the attendees – many of whom tweeted congratulations and snippets of the speeches on social media alongside photos of Maria & Will.
