Apprenticeships campaign already huge success

A major campaign led by The Journal and Evening Gazette is aiming to boost the number of firms taking on apprentices in the North East. And, as Karen McLauchlan reports, it’s already a huge success.

Just a few success stories from the campaign so far

AN initiative to recruit new apprentices for ‘green’ training places has been launched. The North East Apprenticeship Company (NEAC) is looking for young apprentices for employment in the environmental sector.

A DOCTOR’S surgery in Sunderland is offering a host of new services to patients after putting two of its receptionists through a healthcare apprenticeship. Lynn Hutchinson and Emma Keerie at the Happy House Surgery on Durham Road are now fully functioning healthcare assistants after becoming apprentices through Gateshead Council’s bespoke service.

A TEENAGER who has been helping to carry out a major North East regeneration project has been honoured for his commitment and dedication. Aaron Leonard from Gateshead has been handed the Apprentice of the Year Award by community regeneration specialist Frank Haslam Milan (FHM) North East.

TYNESIDE MP Catherine McKinnell, Labour MP for Newcastle North, has recruited her own apprentice – and has urged others to do the same. Sixteen-year-old Charlene Curry is now working in the constituency office in Westerhope, Newcastle, where she will complete a business administration qualification.

A TRAINEE female mechanic for the police is proving her worth in a male-dominated industry and is urging other women to pick up a wrench and take up an apprenticeship in the motor industry. Carly Willumsen, from Newcastle, enrolled at Gateshead College and is well under way with her two-year apprenticeship technician course at Northumbria Police Fleet Management at Killingworth, to become a full-time vehicle technician.

TRAINEE plumber Shane Lodge has a new career in the pipeline after becoming the 100th apprentice to join a thriving scheme. The 20-year-old from Eston took up a role with A&P Plumbing and Heating, of Normanby, thanks to the support of Redcar and Cleveland Council’s routes to employment team.

A SPECIALIST technology firm has bolstered its team by taking on its first apprentices. PolyPhotonix, which has its research plant at PETEC, NetPark in Sedgefield, is pioneering the development of organic light technology (OLED). It has taken on apprentices Josh Greg, 18, from Stockton and Sean Bolton, 19, from Middlesbrough.

A TEESSIDE teenager is looking forward to a digital future after the North East Apprenticeship Company (NEAC) secured an apprenticeship for him at a Teesside e-commerce website designer. Sixteen-year-old Alex Smith from Great Ayton has been taken on as an apprentice at Visualsoft, where he will be working at its busy Stockton office.