National Apprenticeships Week

Louisa Joannou – Level 3 Business and Administration and Level 3 L&D Practitioner

I applied for my Level 3 Business and Administration apprenticeship as I thought it would be a good foundation for me to gain an understanding of what working would be like and I liked the idea of learning whilst earning! Before starting, I wasn’t too sure of what to expect as I never really had experience of working or what it would be like to complete the apprenticeship.

I enjoyed it a lot more than I first imagined as I learnt so many new skills and got to experience what it was like to work within a team. Since completing it, not only did I manage to gain a full time job but I also gained lots of confidence as it helped to ease me into my first job so I can’t recommend doing an apprenticeship enough!

The programme had exceeded my expectations as I learnt a variety of topics that are useful for my job. I enjoyed the fact that it pushed me out of my comfort zone as I had to work with various new people and I had assignments that challenged my confidence

Afjol Gani – Level 3 Housing/Property Management

I recently started my Housing Level 3 Apprenticeship in Nov 2020 with Look Ahead. Over the past few years of my career, in various companies and roles, I have thought long and hard about how I wanted to progress, why I wanted to progress. Like many people, I was not an academic person. I was more partial to the theoretical in terms of learning; a hands on person.

I want to develop professionally in my career, progress to the next role within Look Ahead, enhance my professional knowledge and communications and skills. I also wanted to be better at assisting the wider community, our customers, colleagues, peers and commissioners and other third parties and to develop personally by studying a course about housing.

Housing is an area that I am passionate about and the apprenticeship has given me the opportunity to meet new people from various walks of life and organisations and make new and lasting connections. It has been a bumpy journey with the current pandemic, dealing with impacts of personal and mental health issues of others, trying to stay motivated and focused not only on the course, but on the professional and personal duties.

What has helped me is that I work with great individuals at Look Ahead, and also have a great course tutor and course colleagues, who are easy to talk to. They are ready to help and give great advice and feed back, which is helping me on my 18 month journey to complete and understand assignments and course materials.

Craig Johnson – Level 3 Senior Healthcare Worker Specialising in Homelessness

The course is fantastic! It is really well organised. Having lessons on zoom is much easier, saves more time and isn’t too taxing. Both my tutors have been great. They give information in a manageable way that doesn’t overwhelm you.

Look Ahead has great options of different apprenticeship programmes and the support has been very positive. When looking at the different specialist pillars, the physical brain injury element of the Homelessness pillar piqued my interest as it will help me in my work in the future, not only with customers but anyone I come into contact with.

I knew this was a good opportunity to work and study at the same time and the provider can work around my work schedule.

I want to use the things I’m learning to feed back to my team to help us all. Doing apprenticeships has also given me functional skills as I didn’t achieve maths GCSE at school so it has enabled me to finally get my GCSE in maths! It has been so empowering to finally have this achievement.

Maria Fabregas-Estrada – Level 3 ILM Team Leader/Supervisor

I applied for the ILM L3 Apprenticeship, so that I could develop my career as a Team Leader and, more recently, as a Contract Manager. I applied hoping to gather knowledge and skills on how to manage people and projects.

The programme is flexible; however, some time investment is needed in order to complete assignments and to log on work activities. It has helped me develop skills in managing difficult situations. Knowing about different management and learning styles has increased my awareness on how to best manage a diverse team. It is a very hands-on course where I have been able to test my knowledge against my practice.

Moses Kabwa – Level 3 Housing/Property Management

Working in Housing Sector has always been my passion but I did not have qualifications for this. I work as a Support Worker carrying out duties of Housing management but with limited knowledge of Housing management law.

Having worked as a Support Worker, I always wanted to progress to work as a Housing Officer. Following a secondment with Look Ahead for five months, I applied for a Housing job but didn’t get this. The feedback I received was that I had lack of experience.

When the opportunity came for the Housing and property management apprenticeship, I was excited and applied. The reason for applying for this apprenticeship was to gain full qualification and knowledge in Housing so that I can support my customers effectively and to move into Housing management within Look Ahead when an opportunity becomes available.

I am currently enjoying the course and I am receiving valuable support from my colleagues. I am also able to balance my work and study.

Amy Davis – Level 3 Lead Adult Care Worker

I applied to do my NVQ because I wanted to build on my knowledge and skill set to help improve the service and the support that I provide, not just to my customers but with my colleagues as well.

I have found the course to be very comprehensive and informative; it has given me a new perspective on my role as a support worker as it has expanded my knowledge around mental health, substance misuse and encouraging positive behaviour.

I would definitely recommend this course to others wanting to build on their skill set as there are a wide range of units that you can choose from, giving you autonomy and a personalised learning experience that you can take at your own pace.

I had been considering doing a degree for a long time and completing the NVQ has given me the confidence to continue my education and enrol.

Mia Gonzalez – Level 3 Senior Healthcare Worker Specialising in Homelessness

When I saw the Level 3 Substance Misuse Support Worker Apprenticeship I was instantly interested as it was something I was looking into doing already.

My induction over zoom was detailed and all the tutors were welcoming a helpful. It is still early for me as my apprenticeship started in December but so far it is going really well and I am looking forward to strengthening my skills and using them when working with customers.

It is really convenient because it is over zoom & my tutor works around me and my work schedule. I would definitely recommend doing an apprenticeship, learning whilst working is so beneficial as you can use the skills you are learning straight away, and bring in new skills to your service and I am looking to take it even further in the future. I am grateful to have this opportunity provided by Look Ahead and I am excited to get stuck into my apprenticeship.