CAREERS NATIONAL APPRENTICESHIP SHOW – Earn Whilst you Learn On Wednesday 4 March, nine pupils, Mrs Brown and Dr Avery were lucky enough to attend the National Apprenticeship Show at Sandown Park. The show featured over 30 organisations that offered a wide range of apprenticeship routes, as an alternative to going to university. What became very clear was the number of apprenticeships available and how many different levels there were.
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upils from Caterham School, leaving after their Sixth Form education are generally looking at level 5/6/7. A level 5 is known as a Higher Apprenticeship and is usually the equivalent to an HND or HNC level degree whereas a level 6/7 is known as a Degree Apprenticeship which will allow you to study for a full UK degree whilst earning a salary. Apprenticeships are funded by the government under the apprenticeship levy and offer pupils the opportunity to earn a salary whilst being paid and sponsored through a degree programme. In most cases, apprentices will work for four days a week and then study on the fifth. Competition for places can be immense and
the higher and degree levels have recruitment procedures very similar to graduate recruitment schemes, involving online applications, online assessments, a video interview, an assessment centre day and panel or individual interviews, which take place over a number of months. The grade requirements are often considerably lower than those required by universities and this always worries some pupils – they worry that lower grades
signify a lesser quality of degree. This could not be further from the truth! Companies offering these routes know that A level academic attainment does not always match suitability to the workplace and their online assessments, which can be tough, are designed to pick out those pupils who are strong in in the areas where they are looking for certain skills and attributes. Recruiters also understand that not everyone exceeds in examinations and that applying your learning to a real life job can be perfect for some people. Some of the stand out programmes for our pupils were those at KPMG, Deloitte and Accenture whilst I was particularly intrigued by the brand new Police Constable degree apprenticeship with the Metropolitan Police! It was a great event and as one pupil commented, “it was a very informative event that definitely provided plenty of insight into what different companies had to offer”.
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