Gorsemoor Primary School
Gorsemoor Primary School is a 5-11 Primary School with an Early Years Unit catering for children in the year before they start school. There are just over 500 children in the school. The school is situated on a large housing estate in Heath Hayes, on the outskirts of Cannock in Staffordshire. The school employs around 20 teaching staff and 22 teaching assistants. The School currently employs one Teaching Assistant apprentice who is coming to the end of her second year and will be taking on a further Teaching Assistant Apprentice in September.
Mr Bennett, the Headmaster, first got involved because he considered that the Apprenticeship programme provided mutual benefit to both the school and the apprentice:
‘For it to work properly both parties have got to feel value from it… I thought it was a good scheme for the Apprentice and for us in a time of tight budgets it allowed us to increase our staff numbers’.
In addition to the obvious financial benefits Mr Bennett sees a number of wider benefits from recruiting an Apprentice. Like many schools Teaching Assistants positions at Gorsemoor are often filled by parent volunteers. Offering an Apprenticeship means that the school can be more selective with its recruits:
‘I don’t need to advertise, the provider approaches me so I can be much more discerning…if a parent helper came to me and wanted to do the NVQ I would let them as long as a felt they were adequate…when appointing an Apprentice I am a little choosier’
Offering Apprenticeships also enables to school to recruit from a younger pool of candidates. Mr Bennett considers that this is key to the success of the scheme:
‘You train them as you want them to be and you can mould them and get them into your routine and they know what is expected of them in a particular role’
The training for the Apprenticeship is provided by the School Improvement Division in Staffordshire County Council. Apprentices spend one day per week with the training provider and 4 days per week with their employer. The Level 2 and level 3 Apprenticeship takes 3 years and Apprentices complete a Technical Certificate (BTEC) and an NVQ at level 2 and 3 plus Key Skills if required. Mr Bennett considers that the additional training provides apprentices with a breath of knowledge that those undertaking the NVQ alone may lack:
‘The BTEC does broaden their skills and is a much wider curriculum...it is much more knowledge based...their competency increases and their confidence increases because it gives them a bigger understanding of a wider picture’
Gorsemoor Primary School’s current apprentice Vikki Ledo started her Apprenticeship with the school when she was 16. Vikki knew from a young age that she wanted to work with children. She found out about the Apprenticeship from her Mum who works at the school. At the time she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do ‘I considered doing childcare at college but felt the Apprenticeship would be a better option as you are getting experience’.
Vikki feels that the combination of work and training has benefited her: ‘I have gained more knowledge and confidence and my ability to do my job has improved...I used to ask for help but now I know how to do things’
She considers that she made the right choice ‘a lot of my friends go to college and complain that it is boring but I don’t get bored coming here’. When Vikki completes her Apprenticeship she would like to spend a year or two working as a teaching assistant before doing more training including the Higher Level Teaching Assistant course.
Last Updated: 23/05/2012