On 15 January 2020, our award winners from City and Islington College attended the annual Jack Petchey Foundation Presentation Evening.
The winners’ nominations were read out in front of a large audience at Islington Assembly Hall as they received their medallions and shook hands with Mayor of Islington, Rakhia Ismail. It was an exciting evening that allowed both students and staff to be recognised within the local community.
The Jack Petchey Foundation was “set up to inspire and motivate young people across London and Essex by providing exciting projects and programmes for them to get involved in.” They “also recognise the outstanding achievements of today’s young people by awarding them for their hard work and positive impact in their community.”
Award winner Harry O’Connell told us: “I was ecstatic to win the Jack Petchey award. To see that my work is valued and appreciated with a Jack Petchey award is very uplifting and inspiring and I’ll continue to keep at it.”
Harry’s award followed his work on regular Open Mic events at the Sixth Form, promoting a number of good causes.
Well done once again to each of our 2019 winners for their achievements:
Student Achievement winners (Centre for Applied Sciences) Zahra Gaal, Laura Bido Cruz, AnthoniaTara Ilesanmi, Ryan Dawson, Charlie O’Connell, Jacob Larsen and Lauryn Wasiama
Staff Leader Award winner (Centre for Applied Sciences) Dawn Platten
Student Achievement winners (Sixth Form College) Harry O’Connell, Nkemdilim Anisiobi, Mason Clancy, Hollie Peterson, Ryan Fluin, Giada Toppo, Alex Charlton, Katherine Chan and Habel Moges
Staff Leader Award winner (Sixth Form College) Mike Govender
Student Achievement winners (Centre for Business Arts and Technology) Mia Benson, Naveena Dhera, Lucky Mugala, Kinga Matyja, Antone Louis, Shakila Tasnim Uddin, Alex Fernando Altamirano, Samuel Spencer and Ibrahim Kuntas and Jade James
Staff Leader Award winner (Centre for Business Arts and Technology) Anne Farrell
Student Achievement winners (Centre for Health and Social Care) Asen Ivanov, Nikolay Tirov, Kolawole Oni, Sherri Ugurlu, Foibe Nehemia, Anne-Marie Deterville, Levy Marlone Mbungu, Caiyle Eagar Lowe and Jardel Joyeux Arnele O. Reid
Staff Leader Award winner (Centre for Health and Social Care) Dyana Altenor
Student Achievement winners (Centre for Lifelong Learning) Revel Ancara Thompson , Alexander Martins, Harley Adamou, Valentina Quiros, Luiz Felipe Almeida, Ci Shan Joey Lee, Mark Oluwayemisi Joseph, Bianka Kulicsek and Siar Kanik
Staff Leader Award winner (Centre for Lifelong Learning) Jane Broderick
Ahead of the City and Islington College Climate Change Learning Week, commencing 10 February, the Centre for Lifelong Learning’s library has announced its ‘Climate Change Stories’ writing competition.
This time last year, the centre, based in Finsbury Park, found large success during the #WeAreAllImmigrants themed week, reflecting the college’s values of diversity and inclusion. Students were invited to take part in a range of activities including expressive dance routines, singing and spoken word performances around the theme of immigration.
This will be the sixth consecutive year that the college brings together all five of its centres to get creative and find innovative news ways to celebrate the theme of February’s learning week.
The centre’s library often leads the charge for themed weeks, most recently in the nationwide Festival of Learning event in June. Students were asked to share their thoughts on how returning to study had affected their life.
This year, as part of the new theme of climate change, the library asks students to contribute their experiences and reflections on the main issue facing the international community today.
Library team leader, Simon Nelson said: “As the impact of climate change becomes clearer, the need to turn thoughts into words and actions becomes ever more urgent.
“Our students show a keen awareness of these issues and bring with them relevant ideas from all around the world. We look forward to giving them a platform to share their views!”
Many students at the Centre for Lifelong Learning are enrolled on English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses and are over the age of nineteen, offering a wealth of worldly experience and unique perspectives.
Students are invited to provide their own story, essay, poem or song based on fictional or real-life events pertaining to the central topic. Related images or photographs are also welcome.
Entries are due in at the Centre for Lifelong Learning library by 3 February 2020 and a number of prizes – to be revealed at a later date – are up for grabs.
The Climate Change Learning Week commences on 10 February. Other upcoming activities will be announced closer to the time.
On 9 December 2019, the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London welcomed a class of foreign-exchange make-up students and celebrity make-up artist Liz Martins to its Tottenham Centre near Seven Sisters.
As part of a recurring cultural exchange with the college, around 30
Japanese students were invited to explore the differences and
similarities of the English teaching system.
With The Salon, its industry-standard studios, and training workshops on-site, the college was the perfect place to start for our guests, who also benefited from a demonstration with celebrity make-up artist Liz Martins.
Liz’s portfolio spans 20 years and has seen her working across a range of palettes and genres, including editorial, beauty, advertising and celebrity. Known for her work in fashion (including for fashion royalty Kate Moss, Helena Christensen and Eva Herzigova) and music, Liz demonstrated make-up in a western ‘music video’ style for the exchange students and a class of CONEL students, before she opened the floor to questions.
Liz said: “It’s a hard industry to get into and one that takes a lot of work. I started in 1995, back when it was a very small industry. It was the dawn of the celebrity make-up artist – people like Pat McGrath and Mary Greenwell – but very undercurrent. That’s what made me want to get into it.
“I was very into art. I loved to draw and wanted to get into graphic design. It’s hard to find a way to make money out of art. Computers and maths didn’t take me but I had an affinity with fashion.
“I took a short course and started assisting. If you want to get into fashion, it’s imperative you go and assist. I started painting toenails. I hate feet. But it was anything to get on that Fashion Week team.
“From there I started working with the Spice Girls, and then Girls Aloud. Now I work with Rita Ora. In editorial I work with Vogue, which is very different to what’s expected from music. But it all started with assisting.”
Liz’s demonstration explored some of the differences between skin
tones, face shape and trends, replicating some of the vibrant styles of
this year’s London Fashion Week.
“It’s important to develop your own style and have some fun with
make-up. Relax. I try to collect references from everywhere. I took a
lot of inspiration from David Bowie’s make-up in the 1970s, but I’ll
also read wildlife books and, of course, fashion magazines. Find what
works for you and don’t be afraid to get creative.”
As part of the visit, students later moved to the MAC flagship store on Carnaby Street where they found out more about the world of beauty.
CONEL’s Head of School for Hair and Beauty, Ann Atkin, said, “It’s important that students have the opportunity to experience diversity of thought and practice in their studies. Our guests were interested to learn how to apply make-up on unfamiliar skin tones and saw a number of new, western practices. It is also important for our students to exchange ideas and understand the differences in training and client expectations in other countries. External relationships are vital in giving students a greater understanding of the wider industry.”
Find out what’s been happening at Westminster Kingsway College over the past few months, with our latest highlights showreel. It has all the highlights, events and student successes from the 2019 autumn term.
Back in July 2019, the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London entered their first ever student from its Mixed Martial Arts Academy into a boxing bout.
Jan Szponarski, a Sports Level 2 Diploma student at CONEL in Enfield, joined the MMA Academy with no previous competitive fighting experience, but after a year and a half of training and hard work, Head Coach Alay Asghar decided he was ready to face an opponent in the octagon for the first time.
Alay Asghar has been in the world of MMA for 14 years, working at CONEL for the last three of those as the MMA Academy’s Head Coach. From competitor to coach, Alay has learnt a lot during his time in the sport. He says, “There is a big misconception that MMA is all about promoting violence and fighting. However, it is actually a great way to help the students channel their aggression within a controlled environment.” Alay credits the MMA Academy with helping Jan channel his energy and says that it has also “instilled discipline and character into him”.
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a full-contact combat sport that allows punching, hitting and grappling – both standing and on the ground – using techniques from different combat sports and martial arts, including boxing, Muay Thai, kickboxing, judo, karate and taekwondo. The CONEL MMA Academy currently has 28 students in its programme.
To find out more about Jan, Alay and the MMA Academy at CONEL, and about Jan’s spectacular success in the bout, watch our video here:
On Thursday 5 December, students from the ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) department at the Centre for Lifelong Learning presented a number of enterprise projects that they had been working on since September.
As part of their study programme, students have the opportunity to relate their learnings to the real world, benefitting from the college’s wide network of local employers. The 16-18 ESOL cohort was the most recent to pitch their ideas to local employers in an event that required students to design their own business venture in their target language.
The enterprise ideas ranged from phone accessories to a Colombian take away, as well as organic fertiliser imported from Turkey, a new tourist train line for Quito in Equador, an online music shop for new artists, a specialist cleaning company and an online travel company.
The students presented their enterprise ideas to a panel of experts from different industries alongside Head of Department, Andrew Fairhurst. Panel members joined from local health charity Healthwatch Islington, the engineering and construction company VolkerWesselsUK and marketing and design agency West Creative.
Critical feedback from the panel helped students to develop their presentation skills and their business ideas. This included advice on how to present slides for maximum impact, how to build businesses and how to communicate effectively.
Students were taught that ‘less is more’ when it comes to presenting information, to start small and grow slowly for business sustainability and how to address the panel whilst standing up and speaking.
Students took away contacts from the companies and the charity with information on how to pursue future potential employment opportunities.
With the new year – and new decade – almost upon us, we thought it would be nice to look back on the last 12 months at Westminster Kingsway College. So, here are all the best bits from 2019….
January
We are central London’s leading further education college in the exciting field of visual effects (VFX) for TV and film, so it was fitting that the year kicked-off with us winning a contract – with Capital City College Training (the specialist training arm of the Capital City College Group) – to deliver a new Visual Effects (VFX) Apprenticeship, beating-off competition from universities. The two Apprenticeships are being delivered in partnership with the NextGen Skills Academy.
February
During
the February half-term holidays, many of our students do work placements, to
gain new skills and experience the world of work. For some, it will prove to be
vital experience for their CVs.
Business student Victoria Freitas Tineo, spent a week at the leading London think-tank Centre for London. The week was lined-up by Victoria and Wendy Breakell from the college, working with an organisation called S4S: NextGen.
Victoria Freitas Tineo
Victoria
really enjoyed her week, saying that “I learnt so much during my week at the
Centre for London. I met all the team and they gave me training every day on a
new skill to help develop my skills for a career. I learnt Excel which is
proving to be useful in my studies as well as in a future job.” Presenting
in front of different audiences is a key skill that will prove invaluable in
developing Victoria’s confidence, cooperation and communication, so her week
ended with her presenting a research proposal, with some of the Centre for
London team.
March
March
was a bumper good news month, us marking National Apprenticeships Week with WestKing’s Hospitality Apprenticeships
Programme Manager Sharon Barry and Chef Lecturer Nick Gunyon being granted an ancient
and coveted honour – the Freedom of the City of London – for their years of
service to apprentices.
We also had a group of 16-18-year-old students participate in – and win – a Digital Career Colleges challenge at the London offices of Amazon Web Services, the global cloud computing and cloud services giant. The students had undertaken an eight-week challenge to develop an innovative digital solution to promote the physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of young people.
And
our students won! Their ‘Hope Box’
idea beat off competition from three other colleges (Barking & Dagenham
College, BMet and Coleg Gwent). Hope Boxes would be placed at public places like
train stations – giving people a space to talk about their problems with
someone on a screen. As Renata Cann, Lecturer in ICT and Computing, who
supported the students through the challenge said: “A lot of people tend to
shut themselves off from communicating with others when they are suffering from
any problems so the Hope Box is a great way for people to anonymously talk about
themselves face-to-face without being in person. The innovative design
impressed the judges, as did the group’s genuine desire to give hope to people
who may be struggling with mental health issues.”
At the end of March, our thoughts turned to planning our big summer push to encourage lots of students to enrol with the college. We decided to make the students the stars, so we turned some of them from our Victoria Centre and King’s Cross Centre into models, making them over and turning them into #StarsForADay.
The
student stars have been everywhere – on our website, on bus stops, bus-sides,
in adverts on social media, in emails and even on the odd leaflet – and they
helped us hit our targets for new students, helping the college provide more
great courses for more people.
April
April
was another busy month for good stuff, including:
Digital Arts and Photography students Charlotte Allcock, Patricia Medina and Annie Koyce won a student competition to design a 10 metre-long bespoke hoarding, for the construction site at 150 Holborn in central London, where Dar Group – a leading global professional services company – is building its new UK headquarters. The college ran the competition with Dar Group and the winning design, on the theme of Connection, was finally installed in October and the students visited the site to see their hoarding in place.
Over at our School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts in Victoria, We collaborated with leading think-tank The Centre for London on their ground-breaking report, Kitchen Talent, on the future of London’s culinary and hospitality industries. On the morning of the report’s launch, BBC London News filmed at our Victoria centre and an interview with student Kyla Bertrand featured on the News that evening.
Our School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts’ training kitchens and Escoffier Room fine dining public restaurant recognises international cultures with ‘themed weeks’ throughout the year. April saw Thai Week, so we hosted Thailand’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, HE Mr. Pisanu Suvanajata, and the ambassadors to the UK of Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and Myanmar. Senior chef lecturer Jose Souto conducted the group on a tour of the college’s kitchens and workshops, explaining the cultural history of the centre (we have taught culinary and hospitality skills on the site for over 100 years), before the group sampled the students’ Thai cuisine skills over lunch in our Escoffier Room restaurant.
May
In
a first for the travel industry, Westminster Kingsway College ran a conference in
May that brought the industry and college students together, to boost
recruitment and enhance students’ understanding of the trends and issues facing
the travel and tourism sector. At the conference, held at our Victoria Centre on
2nd May, travel and tourism students from Brooklands College, the College of
Haringey, Enfield and North East London and Westminster Kingsway, heard from
speakers from ABTA, Tui, BA, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Virgin Holidays. The
students, who all aspire to work in travel and tourism roles, got invaluable
insights into the hundreds of exciting jobs available to them.
In June we met a truly inspiring student: Santiago Fori. When he was just 15, Santiago fell from a climbing frame in his local park and smashed the C4 cervical vertebrae in his neck – an accident that left him a quadriplegic: in a wheelchair, struggling to breathe and with no use of his arms or legs. Since then, his recovery has astounded his doctors and when we met him in June, he had just completed the Travel and Tourism – Level 3 Extended Diploma course at Westminster Kingsway College.
Armed
with new skills and confidence from three years’ studying with us, Santiago is
really positive about the future, and, most importantly, he has choices and
options for what he will do next. “I am looking for work at the moment” he told
us. “I would love to work in accessibility or disability jobs – I looked at a
job at Tottenham Hotspur FC – and I am going to start volunteering at the Royal
National Orthopaedic Hospital, where I go for some treatments and work out at
the gym there.”
July
WestKing BTEC science student Denislava Andreeva couldn’t even order a McDonald’s when she arrived in the UK just two years ago. In the summer she scored top (D* D* D*) grades on her Science – Level 3 Extended Diploma course and in July, she won a silver award in the final of the prestigious Pearson BTEC Awards national student competition.
Photo of BTEC student Denislava Andreeva
Also in July, our Kings Cross campus hosted our first–ever employability ‘thank you’ event. WestKing has relationships with more than 100 companies including ITN, Salesforce, Havas, Property Developers Argent, The Ritz, Harrods, Dar Group and FrameStore (the Bafta and Oscar-award-winning creative studio).
Throughout July we ran our first social media competition – the #WestKingCulinaryWorldCup – a series of public votes on our WestKing Twitter and Facebook pages. In it, we pitted 16 of our famous culinary alumni, including Sophie Wright, Ben Murphy, Jeff Galvin, Ruth Hansom, Ainsley Harriott and Jamie Oliver, against each other in a series of head-to-head winner-takes-all ‘battles’ – where the public decided who went through to the next round by voting for their favourite former student. After 3 weeks and over 2,500 votes from fans and the public, our clear winner was Ben Murphy, the Head Chef at Launceston Place restaurant in Kensington.
August
School
was out for the summer, but we were still very busy! We:
September
is the start of the academic year and it’s our peak month for starting new courses
Thousands of new students joined the college on a course in September and we
held Welcome Fairs, Freshers’ Fairs and other activities to say ‘Hello’ to them
all.
October
October
sees the start of the awards season and we had two good ones to celebrate:
Our
Careers and Employability team won the ‘Most
Progress from a School or College’ category at the Careers and
Enterprise Company Awards. We are the first-ever further education college
to win at the awards, which recognise and celebrates the work of colleges,
schools, businesses and careers professionals.
The
team won the in a ceremony at the end of September at the Royal Society of
Chemistry in Piccadilly, London – beating-off competition from 30 other schools
and colleges to bag the award.
Not
to be outdone, student Enrico Rizzi won the Most Outstanding Young Person in Business category at the inaugural Westminster Business
Council Awards. Enrico – with fellow student Alan Manni – won the
award for their work to devise and create a brand new crispy snack called Polenties,
which mixes polenta with a secret blend of Japanese Nori seaweed and other
flavours to create a healthy snack.
And,
right at the end of October, we hosted A
Taste of ASEAN – a celebration of South-East Asian culture and food. The 10
member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) –
Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – were represented and over 200 guests were
treated to musical and dance performances from ASEAN nations and a selection of
delicious Asian dishes that were devised, cooked and served by our culinary
students – ably supported by their chef lecturers.
Among
the guests were Ambassadors and Heads of Mission from many countries, staff and
friends from the ASEAN nations, and staff from the UK’s Foreign and
Commonwealth Office (FCO) including Heather Wheeler MP, the UK’s Minister of
State for Asia and the Pacific.
November
During November we encouraged our students to register to vote in the General Election. And in the run-up to the election, we held hustings events at Kings Cross and Victoria, where students could hear from – and grill – the Parliamentary candidates. A group of our politically-engaged students also appeared on the BBC talking about the election.
December
We value our place in our local communities, and in December we wanted to do something to help those who are far less fortunate than us. So, at all our centres, we arranged collections of clothes and hygiene products for Crisis – the national homelessness charity. Thanks to the generosity of our staff and students, we collected over 40 bags-full of stuff which will be going to people in need this Christmas.
Westminster Kingsway College staff sorting the donated clothes for Crisis (L to R): Gigi di Santi, Laura Elliott, Carlo Liu, Mike Magras, Esther Dahan and Lorraine Acton
And finally… over Christmas – like in previous years – our King’s Cross campus will be a place of refuge, safety and warmth for London’s homeless, as it will be one of the Crisis at Christmas London centres. Stay tuned to our website and social media in the new year for an update on how Crisis at Christmas went, and to keep in touch with us next year
Haringey Virtual School and Tottenham Hotspur hosted their Annual ‘Education Achievement Awards of Haringey Children in Care 2019’ in November. Student Bereket Assaye, 17, won the Learning Achievement Award and so he and his Curriculum Manager from the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London were invited to the London Academy of Excellence to receive their award.
The award ceremony recognises students’ hard work, dedication and commitment to their studies, despite sometimes having to deal with personal obstacles that other students do not. CONEL’s ESOL Curriculum Manager, Melike Asan, nominated Bereket for the award.
Melike said: “Bereket is a young person from Eritrea. He came to the UK as an unaccompanied minor and despite his young age and not having his family in the UK, he is aware of his own responsibilities. He always motivates himself and is determined to achieve in the UK. He is very kind, well-mannered and supports his peers. He always shows respect to his tutors and classmates.
“He started with very low language skills and worked hard and passed all his exams in Entry Level 2. His achievement is due to his determination and hard work. He has set a very good example to all other learners including those who have a more privileged life in London. We are very proud of his achievement in his exams and how his confidence has developed during his time with us. He is currently studying ESOL Entry 3 and Level 1 Functional Skills in Maths.
“Bereket told me he enjoyed the award ceremony and felt very proud of his achievements. This is a reward for all his hard work.”
Here at CONEL we aim to help all students gain the skills and qualifications they need to progress to their next step, whether this is further education or into a career. We are dedicated to helping our students with their personal lives too, which is why we have a specialist safeguarding team to help students with any issues they may be facing in or outside of college.
“This is a great award for CONEL to receive,” Director of Employment Skills and Support, Hilary Moore, said. “The ESOL team run a really tight ship. This award is a great testament to the hard work of the tutors and learners that leads to so many gaining the language and employability skills they need.
“We pride ourselves on preparing students to progress into jobs or other training opportunities and integrate into the local area.”
Staff and students from Westminster Kingsway College have pulled together for London’s homeless – collecting 42 bags of warm winter clothing and hygiene products like soap, deodorant and shampoo – for Crisis, the national homelessness charity.
Crisis aims to rebuild the lives of people affected by homelessness. Offering support, advice and courses across England, Scotland and Wales, the organisation’s Crisis for Christmas campaign asks the public to find ways to support their mission during the coldest months of the year.
Mike Magras,
Learning Support Manager at Westminster Kingsway College, organised the
collection of clothes and hygiene products. He said:
“I am really delighted that so many of our students and staff
took an active role in making our Crisis for Christmas collection
such a success.
“It must be terrible to be homeless at any time, but
especially at Christmas when it’s cold outside and families and friends are
celebrating, so we were happy to do whatever we could to help. Our staff and
students collected over 40 bags of warm clothing
and vital hygiene products for London’s homeless and it’s wonderful that
people’s generosity will make such a big difference to so many homeless
people’s lives this winter. Our friends from Crisis will be here in the
next few days to help us sort all the donated clothes and make sure that they
go where they are needed most.
The college doesn’t just support its communities at Christmas. As
Mike explained: “We have been working with our students since the start of
term in September, on various social action projects to raise their awareness
of the needs of their wider communities and we’ve been blown away by how
engaged and enthusiastic they’ve been.
“I’d like to thank everyone at Westminster Kingsway College
who donated, for their generosity.”
A photo of Westminster Kingsway College staff sorting piles of donated clothes for Crisis
Westminster Kingsway College is one of three further education colleges in the Capital City College Group. The Group’s Student Ambassador Team Leader Thomas Blundell has worked with all three colleges to coordinate the collection of winter clothes for Crisis. He said: “We are delighted to be able to help Crisis out this Christmas. Having 37,000 students across 11 sites puts us in a unique position to make a real difference to London’s homeless population this Christmas.
“The original idea came from Mike Magras at our Kings Cross Centre. We spoke about doing something at the Westminster Kingsway College site and soon realised we could replicate the initiative across the Capital City College Group.
Last year, deaths among homeless people rose 22%.
“Last year, deaths
among homeless people rose 22%. This is a really important, pressing issue, and
we’re very grateful for the enthusiastic response we’ve had from staff so far.”
But that’s not all. The college will also be opening its doors to London’s homeless over Christmas, as it will be one of the Crisis at Christmas London centres. Commenting on this and our clothes collection, Ian, the Head of Christmas at Crisis said:
“Crisis
at Christmas is only possible because of the incredible support from
thousands of people who volunteer and donate, united in a belief that we can
end homelessness. We would like to thank Westminster Kingsway College for
allowing us to use their building as one of our centres and providing us with a
generous collection. With their help we provide homeless people with vital
support at Christmas and a way out of homelessness for good through Crisis’
year-round services.”
One of Capital City College Training’s employer partners, The Pension Protection Fund (PPF), recently won the Apprentice Employer of the Year category at the Croydon Business Awards. We caught up with employees Sharon Godfrey, Talent Development Manager, and Rishma Poojara, Commercial Apprentice, who were at the awards and told us what this meant to them and the PPF.
“Winning this award is great recognition for all the work we have been doing,” said Sharon. “The awards were a really nice evening and we took all our apprentices. As levy payers, we want to do the right thing and develop future talent. We create opportunities for young talent and often recruit from the local community so this external recognition at the Croydon Awards means a lot to us.”
Levy paying companies make a yearly payment of 0.5% of their total payroll bill, which they then use to pay for apprenticeships in their company. This is a government initiative to increase the quality and quantity of apprenticeships in the UK.
Sharon continued: “Rishma was our first apprentice back in 2018 and following her success in the company, we now have 12 apprentices working at the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). They work in a range of areas and at a number of different levels (from 2 right up to level 6). All our apprentices get to do ‘real work’ because we really want to make sure that what they learn is real and relevant to the career they want to build. Everyone within this business understands this which is what makes it so valuable for our apprentices.
“As well as new employees who are on apprenticeships, we are also up-skilling our current employees. This gives them an opportunity to learn new skills and gain sector-relevant qualifications. What we like about apprenticeships are they give all involved relevant career qualifications and knowledge on the job.”
Rishma was PPF’s first-ever apprentice when she started her Level 4 Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply in 2018. Rishma studies at college one day each week and works the rest of the week at PPF. One year into her two-year course, Rishma only has one exam, a project and a Q&A to complete until she will be awarded her well-deserved pass.
Rishma said, “I was looking for a fresh start. After studying at university-level, and now with two kids, I wanted to kick-start my career. CCCT and PPF offered me a great opportunity for something new and challenging.
“I am in a team of 10 and we all work really closely. It is great working end-to-end in every process, it means I fully understand what the business is doing and how it is done, rather than being stuck on one small part of the job like some other apprentices. The theory I learn in class, I then put into practice at work.”
I have enjoyed everything about it so far. This career offers me the opportunity to travel around the world and learn so much. All in all, it is a brilliant opportunity for me to grow both in my career and as a person.
Working with Capital City College Training, The Pension Protection Fund plans to employ 10 new apprentices each year.
RISHMA POJARA: “Why I chose to do an apprenticeship – my journey”
“I completed school like everyone else, went on to do my A-levels and then to university. It wasn’t easy as I had my son to look after as well, but I got through it with the right support.
The path I wanted to take was in life sciences, but I just couldn’t find a way to get into the industry.
“It is tough when just completing a qualification is not enough. Back in 2009, I was looking for an apprenticeship but the opportunities were just not there. To make the situation even more difficult, I suffered from a rare form of brain injury which took me almost 3 years to recover.
“Fast forward, in my early 30s I had to re-evaluate which career path I wanted to take, and have a balanced home/working life.
“I came across the Commercial Apprentice role at the Pension Protection Fund and decided to do a bit of research on Procurement and Supply and the CIPS Level 4 qualification. The more I looked into it, I knew that this wasn’t just a job but a fantastic career opportunity, to learn and train on the job. I was able to transfer the skills and knowledge I have gained over the last two years whilst volunteering.
“I met my Account Manager Luke Mills at college, he advised me on how to approach the job interview and he supported me throughout the process. This gave me a lot of confidence and self-belief.
“I attend college once a week for my weekly workshops which gives me the opportunity to meet other students and network and to get the support I need to complete my two years of training. You do have to put the extra time in to study and practise exam questions, but it is manageable and my home life has not been affected, with the support network around me I get the time to study, work and spend time with my family, which has been amazing.
“My line manager and the Commercial team have been absolutely amazing, supportive and patient, and have put time aside to work with me to go through what I am learning at college and put it into practice and my day-to-day activities.
“I have learnt and developed a lot of new skills and I look forward to completing my apprenticeship and developing my career in Procurement and Supply. What I want from this apprenticeship is to take the knowledge, skills and behaviours I have learnt in theory and to apply it to my role and to understand the processes and best practice.
“My advice to anyone looking to do an apprenticeship is ‘go for it!’ – I thought I was too old and wouldn’t fit in, but it does not matter, as long as you put in the work and set yourself objectives and goals and show your employer that you have what it takes.
“Doing an apprenticeship has given me the opportunity to learn valuable skills, earn a salary and gain independence, jump-start my career and has opened many doors to my future.”
Capital City College Group
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