One of the best Apprentices

Jake Churchill from Low Power Radio Solutions has been named as one of the Thames Valley’s (GB) best Apprentices in the regional final of the prestigious Apprenticeship and National Training Awards 2012.

Jake Churchill (centre)  being presented with his award
by Philip Taylor; Apprenticeships – Head of Partnerships
City of London Corporation and finalist in series 5 of 
the BBC series – ‘The Apprentice’.

Hosted by the Holiday Inn in Bristol, Jake was one of three nominees for the Pearson Award, The Intermediate Apprentice of the Year 2012. Jake was highly commended for his achievements and presented with his award by Philip Taylor; Apprenticeships – Head of Partnerships City of London Corporation
and finalist in series 5
of the BBC series – ‘The Apprentice’.

Jake has been attending Oxford and Cherwell Valley College on a day release scheme and has completed his Intermediate Level Apprenticeship in Accounting in the Financial Services and Accountancy Sector. Lecturers at the college were so impressed with Jake’s performance, results and enthusiasm to achieve that they had no hesitation in nominating him for the award.

He joined LPRS as an office and admin assistant shortly after leaving school. Like many school leavers Jake was undecided in respect of a career path but keen to be part of a “real world” work environment. After joining the Apprentice scheme Jake became fully focussed and immediately began putting his new found skills into action introducing new and efficient processes which have resulted in accounts and sales processing departments running with greater accuracy and precision. Jake was also instrumental in implementing a new accounts and CRM package.

Jake commented “The Apprenticeship has turned my life around and I feel confident and inspired to go further. I wasn’t particularly ambitious before because I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Now I believe in myself and I know I have a great future ahead of me”.

The National Training Awards recognise organisations that have delivered outstanding training programmes and the National Apprenticeship Awards celebrate the achievements of the country’s most outstanding Apprenticeship employers and their apprentices. Both awards are organised by the National Apprenticeship Service, who received in excess of 1,500 high quality entrants this year.

Dr John Chudley, Divisional Area Director for the South from the National Apprenticeship Service, said: “This year’s awards were a terrific showcase of the outstanding wealth of talent that we have across the Thames Valley. Given the volume and high calibre of entries we received, I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate Jake Churchill for his superb achievement. He is a testament to the many benefits Apprenticeships and training bring to businesses, allowing employers to tap into new raw talent, up-skill their staff and grow.”

All the Thames Valley winners will proceed through to a final national judging stage and the highest scoring Apprenticeship employer entries nationally will have the additional honour of featuring in the acclaimed England’s Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers list, which will be produced by the National Apprenticeship Service in partnership with City & Guilds. The Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers and the national award winners will be revealed during the opening ceremony of the Britain's largest national skills and careers event, WorldSkills UK - The Skills Show, at the NEC in Birmingham on 14 November 2012.

The National Apprenticeship Awards are sponsored by City & Guilds, Pearson, EAL, Nuclear Decommissioning SLC, Virgin Media and BAE Systems. The National Training Awards has City & Guilds as their premier sponsor and they are also sponsored by Rolls-Royce.
The Thames Valley Apprenticeship and National Training Awards cerebration were also supported by The Intercontinental Hotel Group, Lotus F1, MAN Truck & Bus UK Ltd, OXETA, Pera Training, S & B Automotive Academy and Wiltshire Council.