Compass Group’s Academy Apprenticeship programme have been celebrating Apprenticeship Week with a kitchen demonstration event at Westminster Kingsway College.
The Apprentices are employed in a variety of roles across Compass Group and are training on the job at Compass Group and in the College through its employer training division, Employer Training Solutions. As part of their Apprenticeship training, the Apprentices are working towards their NVQ Level 2 in Food and Drink Service followed by their NVQ Level 3 in Hospitality Supervision.
The kitchen event at the College was hosted by Andrew Aston, Executive Group Chef, Restaurant Associates (part of the Compass Group) who demonstrated his culinary expertise and challenged the Apprentices to participate in a ‘cook off’ competition. Andrew is a former Acorn Award winner and works with both the Junior Chefs Academy and the hospitality education charity, Springboard to develop young talent.
Apprenticeship Week 2009 is organised by the Learning and Skills Council to call on employers and business leaders to offer more opportunities to young people through Apprenticeship programmes such as The Academy Apprenticeship offered by Compass Group.
One of the Compass Apprentices, Alison Noble works at Vodafone’s UK headquarters and is really enjoying her Apprenticeship programme. She said “I had always wanted to do an Apprenticeship as it is a great way to learn while you are working at the same time. I’m really pleased that we are able to promote Apprenticeships during Apprenticeship Week and would encourage people to find out more.”
Jamie Cox is working at Quadrant UK while training through the Academy at Compass. He said “I am really enjoying my Apprenticeship and it’s great to learn new skills and then put them into practice. You are training continually and earning a salary at the same time. I have enjoyed visiting the different aspects of the Compass Group business and learning about local produce. It’s great to exchange ideas with other Apprentices from all over the company.”
Compass Group Qualifications Manager, Jane Leeming has been working with Westminster Kingsway College for about two years to provide a range of training including the Academy Apprenticeship programme, NVQ training and ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages). She said “It has been really great to work with Westminster Kingsway College
and we have trained about 375 people through the different programmes that we have running across the Compass Group.
The Academy Apprenticeship in particular brings together colleagues from across the company which increases the cooperation between different teams. We want to be the employer of choice for all of our colleagues and their training helps them to learn and grow with the company. As an employer, the benefits of the Apprenticeship programmes are that people are coming straight into the workplace with the new skills that they are learning so they are able to put these skills into practice.”
Apprenticeship Week is an opportunity to celebrate and recognise the essential role that Apprenticeships are playing in today’s business world, ensuring that the workforce has the skills it needs in order to remain competitive, even in difficult economic circumstances.
There are a number of different Apprenticeship programmes that are offered by Westminster Kingsway College and Employer Training Solutions both in College and in the workplace which provide a structured training programme matched to the needs of employers and to learners on the Apprenticeship programmes.
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